Review Summary: Turn that frown upside down
Cryptically-named The Smile are a side project composed of three musicians: Jonny Greenwood, Thom Yorke, and Tom Skinner. The first two are (of course) famous members of Radiohead, while the third is most-recognized as part of Sons Of Kemet.
A Light For Attracting Attention is The Smile’s first LP, and it’s a wildly impressive opening statement, although its very nature will prompt a fair amount of discussion.
What do I mean by that? Well, this album is
extremely late-era Radiohead in style. In fact, it feels like the “separated at birth” twin of 2016’s
A Moon-Shaped Pool, with lesser influences from every album since
Kid A. The main ways in which The Smile distinguish themselves are through occasional nods to jazz (perhaps reflecting the influence of Skinner’s background) and a few songs which mix up the formula (notably the weird punkishness of “You Will Never Work In Television Again” and the stunning Britpop-meets-folk of “Free In The Knowledge”).
The overwhelming sense of “Radiohead-ness” aside, this is just a fantastic album. It simultaneously manages to be abstract and warm, paranoid and comforting. The vaguely maritime feel of the album artwork proves suitable, with the dreamy pull of the music rocking the listener gently like ocean waves. Thom Yorke’s vocals are in fine form here, slidely gracefully over smooth fusions of electronic and art rock elements.
A Light For Attracting Attention is also expertly balanced. The album’s nearly fifty-four minute runtime could feel excessive, given the mostly slow-paced, atmospheric nature of the music, but the tracklist is arranged carefully to allow for perfectly-timed jolts of energy, never allowing the record’s sleepiness to reach the point of boredom.
Mid-album tune “Speech Bubbles” is the perfect microcosm of this album’s essence. It’s a reserved little song, and, to these ears, perfectly suited to be included on
A Moon-Shaped Pool. To be clear, though, that’s not a critique. “Speech Bubbles”, and indeed most of the other songs of its ilk on
A Light For Attracting Attention are not to be slated as b-sides for a Radiohead album from six years ago: they’re every bit as good as the bulk of said release’s tracklist. All this is to say that The Smile’s debut probably won’t be very appealing if you don’t enjoy late-era Radiohead (although, if so, please check your ears, BOOM, roasted!). However, for the masses who do, this record will prove quite a godsend. A delicately-crafted work fusing experimentalism and sheer sonic beauty,
A Light For Attracting Attention stands proudly on its own merits as a top-tier piece of art rock, connections to a certain critically and publicly acclaimed band aside.
