The Smile

Formed in 2020 by Radiohead's Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood and the drummer from jazz collective Sons of Kemet, Tom Skinner, The Smile trio follows in the tradition of supergroups. Named after a collection of poems by Ted Hughes, the project was born during the Covid-19 pandemic, and worked under the greatest secrecy before making a surprise appearance on the bill of the Glastonbury Festival on May 22, 2021, where it was announced just one week before performing. At the same time, Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, keyboards), guitarist Jonny Greenwood (also on electric piano and Moog synthesizer) and Tom Skinner continued to work in the studio with producer Nigel Godrich, and in January 2022 released their first track, "You Will Never Work in Television Again", on XL Recordings. Five more tracks, "The Smoke", "Skrting on the Surface", "Pana-Vision", "Free in the Knowledge" and "Thin Thing", were released before the release of the album A Light for Attracting Attention (May 2022), which combines Thom Yorke's preferred styles, from post-punk revival to post-rock, psychedelic influences, krautrock and afrobeat. The album, ranked No. 19 in the UK (No. 3 in the independent chart), also features musicians from the London Contemporary Orchestra. The same contemporary orchestra, conducted by Hugh Grunt, was again featured on the second album, Wall of Eyes (2024), produced by Sam Petts-Davies. The third album, Cutouts, came out of the same sessions, promoted by five tracks with Weirdcore videos, and reached No. 7 in the UK charts.