The Smile "Cutouts" (2024)

Cutouts

udgivet: 4. okt. 2024

format: digital (10 x File, FLAC)

[vurdering: 3,5 / 5] [3,72]

producer: Sam Petts-Davies

selskab: XL Recordings - nationalitet: England, UK

Udvalgte numre: 1. "Foreign Spies" - 2. "Instant Psalm" (4 / 5) - 3. "Zero Sum" - 4. "Colours Fly" - 8. "The Slip" - 9. "No Words" - 10. "Bodies Laughing" (live)

3. fuldlængde album fra The Smile følger kun 9 måneder efter Wall of Eyes (jan. 2024), og det er da også en samling af outtakes – "cutouts" – fra de samme indspilningssessioner, der blev til forgængeren. Der er tale om i alt ti numre med en samlet spilletid på ca. 44 minutter.

Ikke overraskende lyder Cutouts meget som det forrige, og ved første gennemlytning peger det ikke på nye oplagte singler, men giver man det tid, kan det faktisk ende med at fremstå som det bedste af de to albums. Det er ikke fordi, Jonny Greenwood og Thom Yorke har forsømt den eksperimenterende side i deres mange tidligere udgivelser, og Radiohead var ikke ligefrem berømte for deres normale rytmesektion, men det lader til, at der med inddragelsen af trommeslager Tom Skinner (Sons of Kemet) er sket en værdifuld tilføjelse i form af en jazz-vibe til Yorke og Greenwood's idéer. Skinner har en udforskende natur, hvor synkoper lægger sig oven i den naturlige særegenhed ved Greenwood og Yorke's kompositioner, hvilket forvandler alt til synkroniserede improvisationer med en stærk følelse af kreativ sammenhæng, og jazz-elementet gør det ekstra levende. Præcis som visse anmeldere antyder, tror jeg, at essensen af Cutouts er, at det repræsenterer mere fri improvisation og dermed understreger det eksperimenterende, og alligevel udgør udvalget af kompositioner en fin, sammenhængende helhed, hvor man virkelig får lov at høre, hvor fantastiske musikere de alle er. Hvilken af disse to udgivelser man foretrækker, er, som med al musik, en smagssag, og i det lange løb vil de formentlig blive betragtet som værende meget mere på niveau og måske egentlig bare som to kapitler.

Indtil videre foretrækker jeg faktisk dette album. Jeg synes, det er et helstøbt album, der vinder ved hver gennemlytning - men hold da op, tænk om de oprindeligt havde udgivet det hele som et dobbeltalbum!

Anbefalet.

[ 👍allmusic.com, Slant 3,5, The Guardian, NME, 👉Pitchfork 8 / 10, 😲MusicOMH 5 / 5 stjerner ]

The Smile "Wall of Eyes" (2024)

Wall of Eyes

release date: Jan. 26, 2024

format: digital (8 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,66]

producer: Sam Petts-Davies

label: XL Recordings - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Wall of Eyes" (4 / 5) - 2. "Teleharmonic" - 3. "Read the Room" - 4. "Under Our Pillows" - 7. "Bending Hectic"

2nd studio album by The Smile following nearly two years after A Light for Attracting Attention (May 2022) with Petts-Davis as producer - he previously produced Thom Yorke's solo soundtrack Suspiria (2018) for Luca Guadagnino's remake of a Dario Argento horror classic.

Although, the album has been made with a new producer, it really doesn't fall far from the trio's first album and you could also argue that the project here doesn't expose a tone that essentially differs from that of Radiohead, perhaps because that band's musical centre is constituted by Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood who are 2/3 of The Smile. And although, many compositions were nearly finished by Greenwood and Yorke in the Summer of '23, all songs and music here is credited the band only.

The now two studio albums by The Smile are so much alike that it's tempting to regard them as two chapters of the same book, or two sides of the same coin, and that's the only snag to a otherwise fine follow-up. On the positive side, you could add that it's really nice to have renowned artists like Yorke, Greenwood, and Skinner, who choose to make an album with focus on musical experimentation instead of going mainstream pop, and in that regard, the trio still offers a refreshing and challenging side-step to the Grammy Awards' self-centrered spotlight of make-believe where everything is about performance.

Recommended.

[ allmusic.com, The Guardian, NME, Rolling Stone 4 / 5, 😮Pitchfork 8,5 / 10, 👎Exclaim! 3 / 5 stars ]

The Smile "A Light for Attracting Attention" (2022)

A Light for Attracting Attention [debut]

release date: May 13, 2022

format: digital (13 x File, FLAC - XL1196DA

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,88]

producer: Nigel Godrich

label: XL Recordings - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "The Same" - 2. "The Opposite" - 3. "You Will Never Work in Television Again" (live on KEXP) - 6. "Speech Bubbles" (live) - 7. "Thin Thing" - 9. "Free in the Knowledge" - 11. "Waving a White Flag" - 13. "Skrting on the Surface" (live)

[ full KEXP live performance, Dec. 2022 ]

Studio debut by project-trio The Smile consisting of the two Radiohead members Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood together with Sons of Kemet-drummer Tom Skinner. The project is one of many offspring-projects during the COVID-19 lockdown. The album counts 13 tracks with a total running time of 53 mins.

Sonically, it appears as another take on the Radiohead / Atoms for Peace musical universe founded on experimental progressive (art) rock - and here with stronger focus on the electric guitar as opposed to Yorke's solo works and the music Yorke made with Atoms for Peace, where electronic equipment takes up a more present role, but it's also music where the rhythm section really unfolds thanks to Tom Skinner's sense for jazz drumming. In that regard, The Smile offers more room for Greenwood and Skinner - and then, it doesn't fall far from later albums by Radiohead except for being more loose.

Thom Yorke is credited as vocalist and for other instrumentation, he's songwriter and together with Greenwood, Skinner and producer Godrich they're all credited as composers.

The album was met by critical acclaim - several critics noting that there's not much new going on but also answering that it doesn't matter too much because the songs feel new and it just sounds great.

Recommended.

[ 👍allmusic.com, Rolling Stone, NME, The Guardian 4 / 5, Pitchfork 8,6 / 10 stars ]