A LIGHT FOR ATTRACTING ATTENTION

Spike Sidor

4 years ago

THE SMILE

2022 ART-ROCK

A Light for Attracting Attention is the first album by Radiohead side project The Smile. There are a lot of degrees of closeness when it comes to offshoot groups. In the middle of the spectrum there are usual ones where the frontman from one group and musicians from random others meet on this tour or that festival, have a couple drinks and say “we should really make tunes sometime”, and then a year or so down the line they put together a sort of cross band fusion. On one far end is The Smile which stars the by far most prolific members of Radiohead in Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood who bring along the producer of the vast majority of their records who reprises that role. But hey, it’s not just about the players it’s about what they make and theoretically that could be anything; that and I have neglected to mention the odd member of the band, Tom Skinner, drummer of the Jazz band Sons of Kemet, but the reality here is that if you went into this blind you would say it’s a Radiohead album. Sure it’s got a couple tracks more in line with the rock days of the 90s but largely it’s the exact sound of the latest releases from the group and from Thom’s solo stuff. Esoteric rock is an appropriate way to describe it. A lot of openings that feature a loop of cool tones that is built upon while Thom’s usual political poetry is softly cried in his expected way. It’s a good record. Does it rock my world like their older efforts? No, but it’s an enjoyable fifty-three minutes.

The peak comes early in the listing with You Will Never Work In Television Again. The guitar comes roaring in and surprisingly so does Thom on a more traditional rock delivery. Its exhilarating, a sorely missed quality in these days where their sophisticated musings seem endless. The lyrics are great too, depicting the slimy characters we all know so well yet struggle to bring down.

All thosе beautiful young hopes and dreams
Devoured by those evil eyes and those piggy limbs
You sad fuck, you throw small change
Take your dirty hands off my love
Heaven knows where else you’ve been

There’s plenty of terrific moments on the low-key affairs that cover much of the record’s surface like on the next track Pana-vision. Piano arpeggios create an air of mystery and as the swells bring on strings it reaches a soft grandiosity. This kind of mood continues onto The Smoke with its pitter-patter of percussion and downright startling lyrics about drawing attention to a cause via self-immolation, or you know, protesting in general. Tracks such as these two feel like a daydream in a perfectly climate controlled room while a man whispers about all of society’s problems into your ear, but his voice is so soothing that it hardly interrupts your deep sink into the recliner. Not to be taken literally of course, there is no falling asleep to the later half’s highlights. There’s Free In The Knowledge’s somber nostalgia and A Hairdryer’s biting poetry directed at Boris Johnson, or maybe Trump. It’s hard to tell considering the similarly disastrous hair and stupidity.

This might seem like a lot of praise but I did say the album was only “good” not excellent so there are a few bad and even more middling songs filling out the space between. Thin Thing painfully scraps at the left side of your brain as its distorted guitar never leaves that channel. It’s certainly better on non-headphone setups but since that is my preferred method this ends up as an annoyance. I have a friend who controversially doesn’t like Radiohead citing, and I quote “Thom Yorke’s singing sounds like the world’s saddest orgasm”. I find this to be only true on the weird background yelps on Skrting On The Surface. Very unfortunate for the worst track to be the last, it leaves you with the lingering sour aftertaste of a piddling guitar riff that got stretched to the point of breaking over it’s far too long five and a half minutes. As for the several middling takes there is little to say; I jot down notes on each song while listening and there are sections where the title is written, then no more than a handful of basic descriptors when just one is needed for the whole lot, unmemorable.

Individually the members of Radioh-, sorry The Smile have been at this music making thing for a long time now and their craftsmanship shows in each of its subtle movements. It imparts satisfaction but can’t quite make it over the hump to greatness.

Yes, this is going to be the third time saying this but it does deserve this much emphasis. A Light For Attracting Attention is essentially a solid Radiohead record. If you liked A Moon Shaped Pool then you’ll like this but to a lesser degree, and if you don’t like Radiohead then you have my condolences.

6/7-10

A LIGHT FOR ATTRACTING ATTENTION

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