Almost one year to the day since announcing their formation, Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood have shared their debut album as The Smile, their project with Sons of Kemet’s Tom Skinner. A Light for Attracting Attention is available to stream today via XL, with a physical release coming June 17th; pre-orders are ongoing.
A Light for Attracting Attention is 13 tracks total, including the singles “Thin Thing,” “Free in the Knowledge,” “You Will Never Work in Television Again,” “The Smoke,” “Skrting on the Surface,” and “Pana-vision.” The trio recorded the album with Radiohead’s go-to producer Nigel Godrich, while Bob Ludwig handled mastering.
Aside from the band members, A Light for Attracting Attention also boasts performances from the London Contemporary Orchestra, as well as contemporary UK jazz players Byron Wallen, Theon and Nathaniel Cross, Chelsea Carmichael, Robert Stillman, Jason Yarde, and more.
There was a lot of hype leading up to The Smile even prior to the album announcement, too. In May 2021, just hours after revealing their existence, they performed during a surprise appearance at Glastonbury’s Live at Worthy Farm webcast. Then, Yorke unveiled “Free In the Knowledge” last December during a solo set at London’s Royal Albert Hall, just a few weeks before The Smile’s epic live debut, where they performed three concerts in just over 12 hours.
Now that all of that’s behind us, you can finally stream A Light for Attracting Attention in its entirety. Check it out on Apple Music or Spotify below.
In the six years since Radiohead’s last LP A Moon Shaped Pool, Yorke has shared the solo album ANIMA and the score to Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria, while Greenwood has become an in-demand soundtrack composer with films like The Power of the Dog, Phantom Thread, and Spencer.