The Smile - Wall Of Eyes
Review: The Smile – Wall Of Eyes
Live4ever 24 January, 2024
8/10
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A CHANGE IN PRODUCER HASN’T RESULTED IN THE ABANDONMENT OF THE SMILE’S RAGE AND FUNK.
For Radiohead fans, the announcements of side-projects/solo albums are a mixed blessing.
On the one hand, new music from whichever member of the band is exciting, but tempered by the knowledge that the next Radiohead album gets that little bit further away (eight years and counting).
But out of all those projects, The Smile comes closest, not least because of the presence of two members. The first album from the trio (Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood and Sons Of Kemet’s Tom Skinner) was a welcome treat two years ago, with A Light For Attracting Attention topping many End Of Year lists, and the rapid release of its successor Wall Of Eyes comes with high expectations.
A change in producer (long-time collaborator Nigel Godrich has stepped aside, replaced by Sam Petts-Davis, Yorke’s Suspiria co-producer) hasn’t resulted in the abandonment of the rage and the funk, but added more textures to the sonics. The title-track is bossa nova fused with Yorke’s trademark isolationism and despair (‘Let’s raise our glasses to what we don’t deserve’), all pleading strings and tumbling percussion which collide hypnotically. ‘Teleharmonic’ follows suit while adding fluttering flutes and unearthly synths, the type of restlessly dark beauty which Yorke specialises in yet never utilises carelessly.
His lyrics are as generally oblique as ever, hiding an obvious line amidst puzzling ones. ‘This goes where it wants to be’, he spikily proffers on the salty ‘Read The Room’, aptly for a song on which Skinner interrupts his laid-back beat with a series of staggeringly complex fills, pushing the rhythm to its natural limits. The drummer’s playing is so loose it borders on casual, yet he’s perennially in control while Greenwood’s fractured arpeggios complement his old friend’s brattish tones.
https://www.live4ever.uk.com/2024/01/review-the-smile-wall-of-eyes/