Last May at Glastonbury Festivals replacement Livestream, “Live at Worthy Farm” a mashup of Radiohead members Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood, with Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner formed a mysterious new project called The Smile. Little was known about the band after this initial stream. An odd rehearsal on Instagram, an acoustic pro-shot from a Thom Yorke solo show at the Royal Albert Hall… and that’s about it. Today, the band confirm their time together in the studio with their first single ‘You Will Never Work in Television Again’. See below the accompanying minimalist video just posted on the band’s new YouTube channel.
The song was announced via the group’s socials with a brief announcement explaining the albums current situation, “The album is just about finished” great news, “we’re at the track-listing stage, where there are 6227020800 possible song orders. Until that’s decided – here’s one song: it’s called ‘You Will Never Work In Television Again.’”
Produced by longtime Radiohead associate Nigel Godrich, the single shares a lot of vibes and ideas as Radiohead’s past releases. But this time, the addition of a little neo-jazz flair from Tom Skinner, and the stripped-back nature of working as a 3-piece, takes Yorke, Greenwood and Godrich’s well-loved sound into an almost post-punk-y direction. Splashy drums, frustrated barking from Yorke, and guitars drenched in enough reverb you could almost mistake the instrumental for a Protomartyr song, these things add up to something (again) pretty fresh.
While we have finally heard a studio recording of the band’s music, the air of mystery still lingers as the announcement of a tour seems to raise more questions than it answers. “We are also excited to announce a launch concert in London – actually 3 different concerts in 15 hours across 29th & 30th January, streamed fully live across 3 time zones, so people outside the UK can see us play at sensible times. 3 shows, 3 time zones, and 3 very sleepy musicians on Sunday morning.” Taking place at 8pm on January 28th, the first show almost immediately leads into the 2nd that will kick off 5 hours later at 1am the next morning. The 3rd and final show will then allow the trio to rest for a short while before beginning again at 11am that same day. All 3 shows will take place at London’s Magazine in the round.
Tickets for the show go on sale this Friday (December 7th). You can access tickets to the physical show here, and livestream tickets here.
