The Smile have announced their debut album, A Light For Attracting Attention, alongside the release of a brand new track called “Free In The Knowledge”.
The band – comprising Thom Yorke, his Radiohead bandmate Jonny Greenwood and Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner – formed last year and have been sharing sporadic teasers of a debut album since.
They’ve so far released “You Will Never Work In Television Again”, “The Smoke”, “Skrting On The Surface”, and earlier this month they shared “Pana-vision”, a track taken from the Peaky Blinders soundtrack.
On Wednesday (April 20), The Smile have confirmed the release of their much anticipated debut LP, A Light For Attracting Attention, which will arrive May 13 via XL Recordings.
Produced and mixed by Nigel Godrich and mastered by Bob Ludwig, the 13-track album will feature strings by the London Contemporary Orchestra and a full brass section of contemporary UK jazz players including Byron Wallen, Theon and Nathaniel Cross, Chelsea Carmichael, Robert Stillman and Jason Yarde.
The trio have also shared the latest preview of the album, “Free In The Knowledge”. The song was first previewed by Yorke as part of the Letters Live Royal Albert Hall event he performed at back in December.
Watch the Leo Leigh-directed video for “Free In The Knowledge” below:
Last week, Yorke spoke on the process of writing the album. “Jonny had come with a bunch of ideas, and I hadn’t seen him for a while, so they all just came pouring out before I could go, ‘Wait, wait, wait,'” he told the Smartless podcast. “There was a lot of me retrospectively going, ‘Okay, what am I going to do with that?’ Which was really nice.”
Yorke added: “I like trying to find different ways to write lyrics. I like to find different ways to assemble music. I like to learn new instruments, like Jonny.
“It wakes me up in the morning and probably always will, unless I lose my ability to think straight. There isn’t anything else. There’s not like, ‘Now we must move into this area,’ there’s not any sort of aesthetic agenda. You’re influenced by what you listen to. I’m always sort of buying new music.”
The Smile’s debut live shows came earlier this year with three gigs in one night at the Magazine venue in Greenwich, London.
The Smile are set to embark on their first UK and European tour next month, with shows scheduled throughout May, June and July. See the dates below.
MAY 2022
16 – Zagreb, Hala
17 – Vienna, Gasometer
19 – Prague, Forum Karlin
20 – Berlin, Tempodrom
23 – Stockholm, Cirkus
24 – Oslo, Sentrum Scene
27 – Amsterdam, Paradiso
29 – London, Roundhouse
30 – London, Roundhouse
JUNE 2022
1 – Edinburgh, Usher Hall
2 – Manchester, Albert Hall
4 – Lille, L’Aéronef
6 – Paris, Philarmonie de Paris
7 – Paris, Philarmonie de Paris
8 – Lyon, Les Nuits de Fourvière
10 – Barcelona, Primavera Sound
12 – Dijon, Festival VYV Les Solidarites
24 – Reims, La Magnifique Society
25 – Werchter, TW Classic Festival
27 – Luxembourg, The Neumünster Abbaye
29 – Gdynia, Open’er Festival
JULY 2022
5 – Barcelona, Poble Espanyol
6 – Madrid, Noches del Botánico
8 – Lisbon, Coliseum
11 – Nimes, Festival de Nimes
12 – Montreux, Montreux Jazz Festival
14 – Milan, Fabrique Milano
15 – Ferrara, Piazza Trento Trieste
17 – Macerata MC – Arena Sferisterio
18 – Rome, Auditorium Parco della Musica
20 – Taormina, Teatro Antico di Taormina