The Smile has been performing new material regularly since the release of its 2022 debut album A Light for Attracting Attention, and a host of those songs will appear on the Radiohead-adjacent band’s next release, Wall of Eyes. Due Jan. 26 from XL Recordings, the project was produced by Sam Petts-Davies and was recorded in Oxford, England, and at Abbey Road Studios. It also features string arrangements by the London Contemporary Orchestra.
The group, comprised of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood in tandem with Tom Skinner from Sons of Kemet, has shared the album’s title track, a gently creepy number powered alternately by an acoustic guitar rhythm, swelling strings, and Yorke’s signature emotive vocals. The accompanying black-and-white video was directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, with whom Greenwood has frequently collaborated on film scores.
Among the Wall of Eyes tracks which will be familiar to fans are the eight-minute “Bending Hectic,” which was released last year as a standalone single, “Read the Room,” “Teleharmonic,” and “Under Our Pillows.”
The Smile will support the new album with a short spring U.K. and European tour, beginning March 13 in Copenhagen.
The Smile Wall of Eyes tracklisting:
Wall of Eyes
Teleharmonic
Read the Room
Under Our Pillows
Friend of a Friend
I Quit
Bending Hectic
You Know Me!
The Smile 2024 tour dates:
3/7 Dublin, Ireland – 3Arena
3/13 Copenhagen, Denmark – K.B. Hallen
3/15 Brussels, Belgium – Forest National
3/16 Amsterdam, Netherlands – AFAS Live
/3/18 Brighton, England – Brighton Centre
3/19 Manchester, England – O2 Apollo
3/20 Glasgow, Scotland – SEC Armadillo
3/22 Birmingham, England – O2 Academy
3/23 London, England – Alexandra Palace
