The Smile – ‘Cutouts’ assessment: supergroup finds its aesthetic

Followers of Thom Yorke and co. are accustomed to following their faves’ path of breadcrumbs. Radiohead have lengthy been famend for teasing and testing out new materials onstage, with no clue as to when the tracks would possibly see an official launch. ‘True Love Waits’ famously floated within the ether for greater than 20 years earlier than it lastly made a delicate touchdown, fragile as a butterfly’s wings, on 2016’s elegiac ‘A Moon Formed Pool’.

The world’s most anxious rock band have launched no new materials since then, a vacuum that gave rise to The Smile, the muso supergroup comprised of Yorke, fellow Radiohead founding member Jonny Greenwood and jazz drummer Tom Skinner (previously of sonic pioneers Sons of Kemet). Their earlier two albums, 2022’s ‘A Gentle For Attracting Consideration’ and ‘Wall of Eyes’, which was launched simply this January, offered them as a jazzier, fairly extra louche sibling to the primary gig.

‘Cutouts’ follows in and even deepens that custom, although lots of its tracks have been beforehand aired by way of the tried-and-tested reside technique. And it’s simple to see why the proggy, noodly likes of ‘Zero Sum’ have had followers so scorching below the collar already. With its jittery guitar and taut percussion undercut by Yorke’s tongue-in-cheek lyrics (“Home windows 95! Home windows 95!” he exclaims within the midst of a music in any other case steeped in disdain for giant tech), this can be a liberated dispatch from the Radiohead prolonged universe. It may not get Granny on the dancefloor at your subsequent household marriage ceremony, nevertheless it was sufficient for the BBC 6 Music A Listing.

The Smile’s M.O., then, appears to be experimentation with out the bags of Yorke and Greenwood’s bulging again catalogue – and ‘Cutouts’ definitely delivers right here. That includes the London Modern Orchestra, the album was recorded in Oxford and Abbey Highway Studios alongside ‘Wall of Eyes’, however this can be a freer, extra playful set than its predecessor. The place that file boasted ‘Bending Hectic’, a lush, eight-minute ballad that collapsed into jagged dissonance that made Lou Reed sound like Aqua, this one presents ‘On the spot Psalm’, a woozy pop music that channels The Beatles’ Indian classical section.

Yorke even sounds near earnestly optimistic on that monitor. If he’s not precisely throwing jazz fingers when he deadpans, “We overflow in a hurricane / We are able to no really feel ache”, there’s at the least a way of launch. ‘The Slip’ ebbs with a lithe bassline, funk guitar and the frontman’s winked, sing-song supply (“You’re gonna give us the slip tonight…”), whereas the equally driving ‘No Phrases’ clatters together with hard-edged percussion made extra palatable by tasteful washes of synth.

Eschewing any grand, overarching assertion, The Smile sound – whisper it – fairly comfy inside what’s now their established aesthetic. However Radiohead just lately entered the rehearsal studio collectively, which begs the query: will there be a fourth album from this curious trio? Both manner, don’t be stunned if it’s now time for a complete reinvention.

Particulars:

• Launch date: October 4, 2024
• Document label: XL Recordings