Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, and Sons Of Kemet’s Tom Skinner are back with their latest single as The Smile, “The Smoke,” accompanied by a lyric video created by BAFTA-winning writer/director Mark Jenkin. It’s the supergroup’s second official release, following their January debut track, “You Will Never Work In Television Again.”
Where The Smile’s first song was a relatively straightforward rock track, “The Smoke” is more of a curveball, with Yorke’s ghostly vocals (“We set ourselves on fire,” he repeats) taking a backseat to funky low end and horns a la Fela Kuti, with all of the above drenched in atmospheric reverb. Spidery guitars sneak into the track’s bridge and outro as Yorke chants, “Smoke wakes me from my sleep.”
This weekend (Jan. 29-30), The Smile will play their previously announced, since sold-out livestreaming shows at Magazine London, performing in the round to a seated audience while the shows are simultaneously broadcast in real time. Find more ticket info here.
See the lyric video for “The Smoke” below, and revisit a 1995 Radiohead performance from the Paste archives and The Smile’s London livestream schedule further down.
BROADCAST #1: London – 8pm Sat. / New York – 3pm Sat. / Los Angeles – 12pm Sat. / Sydney – 7am Sun. / Tokyo – 5am Sun.
BROADCAST #2: London – 1am Sun. / New York – 8pm Sat. / Los Angeles – 5pm Sat. / Sydney – 12pm Sun. / Tokyo – 10am Sun.
BROADCAST #3: London – 11am Sun. / New York – 6am Sun. / Los Angeles – 3am Sun. / Sydney – 10pm Sun. / Tokyo – 8pm Sun.
