So, Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood’s non-Radiohead band have released their third album - Cutouts - today (not forgetting drummer Tom Skinner!), and I think it’s rather marvellous! It’s the best thing they’ve put out so far, I reckon.
Two albums in a year is pretty prolific, which lends further credence to the rumour that The Smile exist because Yorke and Greenwood had grown tired of how slow it was to record and release music with Radiohead due to the level of perfectionism required, and wanted to get stuff out more quickly, with more of a loose attitude.
On first listen, I definitely like Cutouts more than Wall of Eyes, the album they released back in the spring. There are some real bangers on it - the arrangement of Eyes and Mouth (which dates back to the original Glastonbury Covid show) is everything you could hope for from a studio version, and the one song no one had heard yet anywhere (ie. not performed live at all), No Words, is absolutely brilliant.
Great stuff, then! I presume this is 3 and out for now as Radiohead seem to be coming back for another round, but the album really makes me hope that The Smile re-form after Thom and Johnny get bored of how long the mothership takes to finish anything again!
I like the Smile in concept (a trio releasing fast instead of overconceptualizing). But the albums have not wowed me so far. I don’t think there will ever be something like Kid A from that approach, which is fine, but I’m glad Radiohead still exists.
The “less is more” approach is exactly what I like about them, maybe that’s due to only working as a trio. They seem to reduce the elements in their songs to a bear minimum, but arrange them perfectly and make them sound as great as possible.
Yup, agree on your take (which was OP’s as well), but it is the grand gesture and concept binding it all together that makes Yorke’s and Greenwood’s music so special to me. And I also think there’s a lot of tracks on King of Limbs, Hail to the Thief and other albums that manage to sound effortless, full of raw energy and obviously perfectly arranged and produced over a long period of time at the same time.
My Radiohead cult’s inner priest says: it’s very good but I don’t feel the magic of the main group.
But my inner priest is a fundamentalist, time and listenings will tell…
