4 Must-Hear Songs From Radiohead Side Project The Smile

Thom Yorke recently made headlines by shutting down speculation of Radiohead’s return.

Asked about rumors surrounding another Radiohead album or tour, the 56-year-old musician told Double J, “I am not aware of it and don’t really give a flying f–k.” His band’s most recent studio album, A Moon Shaped Pool, was released in 2016. But the Oxfordshire bandmates have been busy with many projects.

Yorke and his guitarist Jonny Greenwood have released three albums as The Smile with drummer Tom Skinner. The trio composes spontaneous collections of funk, jazz, and rock with a kind of telekinetic energy between them.

So if you’re new to The Smile or waiting for Yorke to start giving “a flying f–k” about getting Radiohead back to work, this list is for you. The Smile is worth your time. Consider this track selection a teaser to just let the albums play.

Don’t pull me backwards
No, you don’t get to

“The Smoke” from A Light for Attracting Attention (2022)

It seems hanging out with Flea has rubbed off on Thom Yorke. Yorke is recognized for his voice, but in The Smile, he often plays bass, too. “The Smoke” is driven by his cycling bass line—reminiscent of the hypnotic Afrobeat grooves of Fela Kuti. Tom Skinner steadies the trio with a shuffling beat while guitarist Jonny Greenwood intermittently plays beneath the brass and woodwind swells. The searching groove supports Yorke’s falsetto croon for desire.

Easy, easy
It begs me while I’m sleeping
A desire, second chance
I have set myself on fire

“Free in the Knowledge” from A Light for Attracting Attention (2022)

When Yorke writes about how easily things can fall apart, he has a history of being right. (See OK Computer.) In “Free in the Knowledge,” he sings about distant authoritarianism, the kind of thing that happens in other countries or the past until you realize it’s not so distant anymore. It’s the most “Radiohead” sounding track on The Smile’s debut and wouldn’t be out of place next to “Exit Music (For a Film)” or “How to Disappear Completely.”

And this was just a bad moment
We were fumbling around
But we won’t get caught like that
With soldiers on our backs

“Bending Hectic” from Wall of Eyes (2024)

Greenwood may be the greatest anti-guitar hero of his generation. But there’s more to his post-rock approach to the instrument. He’s a modern classical composer with free jazz instincts. The twisting arpeggios in “Bending Hectic” predict the calamity that awaits the narrator. A man in a car lets go of the wheel as he lurches toward an impending car crash. The disgraced figure eventually drives off an Italian mountainside. However, he approaches the unreasonable act in a reasoned conversation with his enemies. He lets go. Greenwood, the conductor, introduces sinister and discordant strings like Krzysztof Penderecki before the crash happens, and The Smile turn the ending scene into avant-garde noir.

The ground is coming for me now
We’ve gone over the edge
If you’ve got something to say
Say it now

 
“Eyes & Mouth” from Cutouts (2024)

This selection proves the importance of Skinner to the group. It’s tempting to overlook the drummer in a band with members of Radiohead. Here, Greenwood uses the same rubber band echo he used in “Thin Thing” on the band’s debut. It’s a spastic and unpredictable effect Skinner uses to buoy an off-kilter groove. Because the band is limited to three musicians, the open spaces streamline its musical complexities. And the final beauty-and-the-beast component is how stunningly Yorke’s falsetto rests atop The Smile’s angular fusion of genres.

Through the glass
Look at you
Just eyes and mouth
Only saying words
And just turning them ’round
No matter what the situation
Telling yourself this is nowhere

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Photo by Roberto Ricciuti/Redferns