But Yorke is also biting and angry, more so than he has been in years. Often, The Smile traces abstract portraits of desperation and fear, pictures of anxious people under the looming threat of destruction. However, if there is a certain ease to the band’s stylistic approach, their lyrics remain as uneasy and ruminative as ever. He manages to bring an anxious hyperactivity to the record’s more aggressive cuts, but he proves equally capable of settling into a sinuous groove as with “The Smoke,” or bolstering the hypnotic lull of “Speech Bubbles.” Skinner comes from jazz rather than rock, adding a unique rhythmic touch to the record, especially with the skittering percussion of “Thin Thing” and “A Hairdryer” and the odd time signature of “Skrting on the Surface.” His smartly knotted rhythms prove to be equally as dexterous as Greenwood’s strings or Yorke’s falsetto. Skinner’s presence behind the kit adds a special level of intricacy and lithe conjurations to the record, one that gives A Light for Attracting Attention its most distinct personality. Where The Smile most sets themselves apart from Radiohead is with their newest addition, Skinner. The Smile approach the record with an alluring stylistic ease, incorporating Yorke’s fascination with electronics and stark piano compositions as well as Greenwood’s mesmerizing guitar work and classical orchestrations. The record opens with the thrumming synths and buzzing electronics of “The Same,” while later the band diverts into lush orchestrations and gorgeous symphonic swirls with “Pana-vision” and “Open the Floodgates.” Moments like these would not feel out of place on A Moon Shape Pool, but other tracks recall the glacial electronics of Kid A or the lush warmth of In Rainbows.
#Attention attention review full
Similarly, “Thin Thing” crackles with tense energy, contrasting the band’s spiked and wiry guitars with Skinner’s hyperactive syncopation and shimmering layered vocals from Yorke.Īlong with “A Hairdryer,” these tracks are the closest Yorke and Greenwood have strayed towards rock music in over a decade, yet the full record quickly dispels any illusions of The Smile as only an exercise in nostalgia. The record’s first single, “You Will Never Work In Television Again,” even seemed to hint towards a return to Radiohead’s alt rock roots, with a snarling punk delivery and some the most propulsive guitars the band have conjured since their ‘90s era. That looser approach results in some of the most unexpectedly vital work that has come from either artist in years. In many ways, The Smile feels like Yorke and Greenwood letting their hair down and getting back to creating together without the massive expectations that accompany a Radiohead release. But though A Light for Attracting Attention does not aim for reinvention, it nonetheless crackles with a fresh kinetic pulse.
After all, they have thus far remained committed to reinvention with each project. Perhaps that familiarity explains the band’s unwillingness to label the album as a Radiohead record.
However, the record as a whole remains firmly rooted in the various styles Yorke and Greenwood have already explored at length on previous records.
The band’s gently layered sonics, emotive crescendos, spidery guitar work, and Yorke’s signature pristine falsetto all come intact, now burnished by smartly darting rhythms from Skinner. However, while it is impossible to know when (or if) we are getting a new Radiohead record, The Smile do an admirable job of recreating that magic, crafting a record that often reaches towards the transcendence of Yorke and Greenwood’s best work.Įven without Ed O’Brien, Colin Greenwood, and Phil Selway in tow, A Light for Attracting Attention sports many of the same indelible fingerprints of a Radiohead project. More specifically, they sound like Radiohead, so much so that some are worrying that their debut record, A Light for Attracting Attention, may portend the band’s demise. While the new band comes after a string of Radiohead side projectsーincluding Thom Yorke’s solo work and Jonny Greenwood’s film scoresーYorke and Greenwood’s new collaboration with Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner has a distinctly familiar feel. In this setting, it’s been hard to place what exactly The Smile is. At this point, the world hasn’t seen one of these events in six years, not since the band’s 2016 record, A Moon Shaped Pool. As one of the most universally beloved and remarkably consistent elder statesmen in what can loosely be defined as rock music, Radiohead albums each seem weighty and purposeful, the product of years of careful craftsmanship. In the music world, a new Radiohead project feels like a seismic event, commanding the kind of attention that few other bands can.
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