It will almost be eight years since Radiohead last released a new album. The latest one is A Moon Shaped Pool (2016). Thom Yorke then continued his solo career, adding an album of songs and several film scores to his already substantial musical heritage. The Smile, a trio he forms with Jonny Greenwood and Tom Skinner, is however there to fill the wait or alleviate the mourning if the Oxford quintet never releases a new record.
The relationship between the two groups led by Thom Yorke remains evident on Wall of Eyes. The atmospheres, the sounds and the high-pitched voice that haunts the songs are familiar to anyone who has been around Radiohead, especially from the double Kid A And Amnesiac. The difference is that everything here is more stripped down and the pieces draw outside the boundaries of rock (the guitar of the title track evokes bossa nova, in fact) and the rhythmic signatures become jazzier here and there.
There is also a little new. On Teleharmonicthe singing has a delicately soulful side. Read the Room creates tension through subtle melodic tangles. Under Our Pillows relies largely on dissonant, almost obsessive arpeggios, then settles on an obstinate bass to finally fly into space. Friend of a Friend has something Beatlesque, gently psychedelic.
The Smile never moves in a straight line and Wall of Eyes is an immensely rich album which nevertheless lacks a little something. There have always been nervous imbalances at Radiohead, no doubt resulting from the clashes of ideas inevitable when working with five people. Here, Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood and Tom Skinner always seem to be on the same wavelength. Hence this absence of tension and surprises which, on this second disc of this trio, however high-flying, leaves one wanting more.
Extract of Friend of a Friend
Experimental rock
Wall of Eyes
The Smile
XL Recordings