Review: The Smile – Wall Of Eyes / Cutouts (2024)

Two albums released by The Smile in 2024, Wall Of Eyes and Cutouts, are reviewed.

Wall Of Eyes

Wall Of Eyes is The Smile’s second studio album.

The Smile was born as a creative outlet for Jonny Greenwood and Thom Yorke of Radiohead fame during the Covid. The guys’ real band was too slow-moving to satisfy the gentlemen’s need to release new music. Greenwood has said he wants to release music twice as fast even if the quality is only 90%. I also assume that releasing music under The Smile label will provide a welcome release for Greenwood and Yorke from the enormous pressures of the Radiohead brand.

Formed in 2020, The Smile was completed as a trio with the addition of drummer Tom Skinner from psychedelic afro-jazz band Sons Of Kemet. The Smile made their surprise debut at the Glastonbury Festival streaming concert (because of the Corona virus) in May 2021 and released their first studio album A Light for Attracting Attention around the same time.

Already A Light for Attracting Attention was a great departure from Radiohead’s style, but Wall Of Eyes is a much better and more interesting album in every way.

And how does The Smile’s music differ from Radiohead’s? That’s a question that’s a bit difficult to answer. In the big picture, it’s still carefully arranged art rock that draws inspiration from many different directions. Krautrock, jazz and even progressive rock are not alien influences to Radiohead, but in The Smile’s music these elements seem to be more prominent.

The most recent development in terms of external influences is that now Yorke and Greenwood’s music is also influenced by ethnic music here and there. In particular, the pulse of Afrobeat and North African rock influences blend seamlessly with the gentlemen’s earlier influences. Skinner’s influence is certainly strong at this point. Instrumentally, he also brings a whole new groove to the table with his jazz background.

Perhaps the clearest differentiator to Radiohead, however, is the organic sound of Wall Of Eyes. There doesn’t seem to be much in the way of programmed elements on the album, which sounds very much like a trio playing casually together in the same room, reacting to each other. Of course, this spontaneous trio sound is enhanced here and there by Greenwood’s gorgeous string arrangements.

The 45 minute album is a solid whole although the very last track ”You Know Me!” is a bit boring. The standouts among the quality set are the title track, which sways in a charming 5/4 time signature and channels psychedelic folk-pop, the tightly and intricately rhythmic ”Read The Room”, which finally succumbs to a delicious krautrock groove, and especially the longest track on the album, ”Bending Hectic”. The eight-minute mini-epic ”Bending Hectic” starts off slow and languidly airy. The track, which floats forward in an ambient way, is spiced up by a strangely tuned, wailing electric guitar. Eventually, the track builds satisfyingly through the intervention of an atonally percussive string section to a chaotic avant-rock climax.

Just eight months after Wall Of Eyes, The Smile released another album recorded in the same sessions. More electronic in style, Cutouts shows that The Smile are really willing and able to maintain a tight release schedule without compromising quality. However, of The Smile’s first three albums, Wall Of Eyes is the most powerful and is one of the best albums of 2024.

Best tracks: ”Wall Of Eyes”, ”Read The Room”, ”Under Our Pillows”, ”Friend Of A Friend”, ”Bending Hectic”

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Tracks

  1. ”Wall of Eyes” 5:05
  2. ”Teleharmonic” 5:10
  3. ”Read the Room” 5:14
  4. ”Under Our Pillows” 6:14
  5. ”Friend of a Friend” 4:35
  6. ”I Quit” 5:32
  7. ”Bending Hectic” 8:03
  8. ”You Know Me!” 5:22
Producer: Sam Petts-Davies
Label: XL

Read also:

Cutouts

Cutouts is The Smile’s third studio album.

Formed in 2020, The Smile is a band whose members Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood are better known for Radiohead. The trio is completed by jazz drummer Tom Skinner, who plays in Sons Of Kemet, among others.

The Smile released their second studio album Wall Of Eyes in January 2024. Cutouts, recorded in the same sessions, hit the shelves in October just nine months later. So history repeats itself; Radiohead also recorded two albums at the same time in the early 2000s and released them in quick succession. These albums are, of course, Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001), which are among the band’s most acclaimed.

The name Cutouts may raise the legitimate question of whether the album is made up of some kind of b-grade surplus material. But that’s not the case, the songs form a very coherent album and I think it’s clear that they are distinguished from Wall Of Eyes not for qualitative but for stylistic reasons.

The ethnic influences that played a central role on Wall Of Eyes are largely left aside on Cutouts, replaced by more electronic tinges. However, it’s not about programmed electronica, the overall sound is still quite organic, but now the synthesizers take centre stage alongside the electric guitar. The overall atmosphere is also more eerie and psychedelic. Ambient atmospherics are given more space. Polyrhythmically jamming grooves can still be heard and sometimes they are cleverly interspersed with more hazy material, creating interesting contrasts.

”Foreign Spies”, which kicks off Cutouts, illustrates the album’s more electronic take at its most dramatic. The coldly ethereal synths of ”Foreign Spies” and the drum machine that gently tumbles in the background are reminiscent of Jon & Vangelis’ idiosyncratic synthpop from the early 80s. Skinner is hardly even on the song, I think it’s a song that Yorke and Greenwood put together.

The songs ”Zero Sum” and ”Colours Fly” in the first half of the album are the highlights. The fast meandering and delay-laden electric guitar riffs of ”Zero Sum” are reminiscent of King Crimson. At one point it becomes unclear whether the guitar is a guitar or a synthesizer that exquisitely simulates one. The slowly swirling ’Colours Fly’ has a really sweet bass line and a hint of Arabic tones in its mysterious ambience. So the ethnic influences are not completely absent on this album either.

When I heard that The Smile would be releasing a second album so quickly after the excellent Wall Of Eyes, my expectations weren’t exactly high. However, the album pleasantly surprises. Cutouts is not quite on the same level as its predecessor, but it comes surprisingly close. If The Smile can keep up this kind of pace of releases at the same level of quality, then what’s the need for Radiohead?

Best tracks: ”Foreign Spies”, ”Zero Sum”, ”Colours Fly”

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Tracks

  1. ”Foreign Spies” 4:48
  2. ”Instant Psalm” 4:18
  3. ”Zero Sum” 2:47
  4. ”Colours Fly” 4:55
  5. ”Eyes & Mouth” 3:59
  6. ”Don’t Get Me Started” 5:55
  7. ”Tiptoe” 3:30
  8. ”The Slip” 4:29
  9. ”No Words” 4:16
  10. ”Bodies Laughing” 4:57
Producer: Sam Petts-Davies
Label: XL
Author: JANNE YLIRUUSI

Yksi ajatus aiheesta ”Review: The Smile – Wall Of Eyes / Cutouts (2024)”

Add yours

  1. Päivitysilmoitus: The Smile Drops Second Album Wall of Eyes

Jätä kommentti

Website Built with WordPress.com.

Ylös ↑