‘Wall Of Eyes’ – The Smile – A Review:

With ‘The Bends’ being one of my favorite albums of all time, I had to give Thom Yorke’s new supergroup’s album a listen.

But first, let me preface this with an observation made by Justin Hawkins of ‘The Darkness’:

“I really do think that trying to figure out what’s happening with these songs is missing the point of them”.

Thus, I wont even attempt to.

What you will find instead is a rather nebulous ramble of my thoughts and first experience listing to The Smile’s new album…

The eponymous first track, ‘Wall Of Eyes’ is hauntingly beautiful: a soft assault on the senses which is almost uncomfortably calming. With a mixture of unexpectedly expected (as fans of Radiohead have come to understand), chord changes you almost feel at ease, when suddenly you’re confronted with something unusual yet familiar. Whilst listening, you drift in an ethereal limbo of the simultaneously tranquil yet disturbing.

Undoubtedly my favorite song on the entire record has to be ‘Friend Of A Friend’: opening with only Thom’s high vocals, juxtaposed by the backdrop of the warm, deep bass; it instantaneously became the highlight of the album. As the track progresses however, and more and more instruments are added (from Piano to String) one would assume the track becomes muddled and chaotic: but rather, we are gifted with an almost orchestra-like sublime symphony.

Coming in at a close second has to be ‘Under Our Pillows’, which, in a similar fashion to ‘Friend Of A Friend’, hooked me from the first two seconds. With a skillfully awkward sounding opening guitar riff, reminiscent of Red Hot Chili Peppers – ‘Cant Stop’ (call me crazy), the song too transforms over its 6:13 play time. By 2:30 the song evolves (or devolves, depending on your tastes) into an almost ambient soundscape nightmare. Despite it’s somewhat disturbing latter half, I can’t seem to skip over it. I have to listen to it every time. In full.

I couldn’t end this post without mentioning ‘Read The Room’, the song which in my opinion resembles the more classic ‘Radiohead’ sound I have come to love over the years. While it may not be my favorite of the album as of writing this post; I have a feeling it will come to be the song I most listen to, and most associate with this beautifully written and produced album…