Album review: The Smile – A Light For Attracting Attention

“Jonny got his guitar back”

The Smile is a new band created by legendary Radiohead duo – guitarist Johnny Greenwood and frontman Thom Yorke – along with Sons of Kemet drummer, Tom Skinner.

The band released their much-anticipated debut album, A Light For Attracting Attention in May of this year to much critical acclaim. This new project is reminiscent of the earlier Radiohead sound, especially when the band was at their most raucous and lively in the early days of the mid-1990s.

This sound has been rare of late and many Radiohead fans have been clambering to hear more guitar-infused elements in some of the newer work.

The band’s last couple of albums, Moon Shaped Pool and The King of Limbs have both been slow, somber affairs.

The bulk of this work is inspired by the band’s love for avant-garde electronic music, and the traditional indie rock sound the band was known for in their early days is rarely heard.

This Smile however is more akin to what we heard on Radiohead’s The Bends and on their critically acclaimed album In Rainbows – Johnny Greenwood appears to have been given his guitar back.

There are some killer indie rock guitar riffs on this album. An example of this is the intro to You Will Never Work On Television Again which starts off with a harmonic-infused power chord-laden riff reminiscent of some of Greenwood’s work on Just or My Iron Lung.

So if you are a fan of early Radiohead and need a fix of the band’s classic sound, check out this album.

You will not be disappointed.