![]() ![]() Yorke has always warned us about climate change, but our world has only gotten grimmer - and hotter - since he warned us of an ice age coming. Somehow, it’s still easy to nod along.įire pervades A Light for Attracting Attention. “We set ourselves on fire,” he repeats, as a brass section bellows. Elsewhere, an unrelentingly catchy bass line forces you to groove to “The Smoke,” a track that sounds almost fun before you realize that Yorke is singing about the end of the world. Yorke’s choir boy vocals are at their lightest and brightest in “Pana-vision,” but the song’s uneasy climbing piano offers a reminder that a beautiful voice does not guarantee a song of comfort. Often times, as “The Same” introduces, its messages and its music conflict. A Light for Attracting Attention revels not in fiery protests, but in the layered, mid-tempo meditations Radiohead’s been crafting since OK Computer. “Let the lights down low, bunga bunga or/ You’ll never work in television again.” Leave it to Yorke to find the most intellectual example of misconduct to include in his breakneck rock song.ĭespite this brief glimpse of rage - “All thosе beautiful young hopes and dreams/ Devoured by those evil eyes and those piggy limbs/ You sad fuck, you throw small change/ Take your dirty hands off my love,” Yorke spits - Godrich’s disclaimer proves accurate. “He chews ’em up, he spits ’em out/ It’s whatshisname, the gеnie man,” the artist quips. Fortunately, Skinner, a jazz veteran, keeps the beat. A quick-and-tight drum beat sets the stage for disjointed, staccato guitar, though once Greenwood’s melodies start swirling, it all gets a little blurry. Naturally, after “The Same” comes “The Opposite,” a track that grounds the album’s otherworldly beginning with classic, human instrumentation. On its face, The Smile’s opening greeting begs for peace, but its messengers, of course, require an ominous delivery. “People in the streets, please/ We all want the same,” he croons. “Somebody’s fallen down, somebody’s telling lies,” the singer notes, but suggests that “we don’t need to fight/ Look toward the light.” Insistent synthesizer notes beep one at a time as Yorke pleads with his audience. ![]() Take opener “The Same,” in which Yorke targets not ambivalent bystanders nor evil power holders, but his fellow aggrieved citizens caught in the middle of the game. The Smile’s debut album repackages Radiohead’s bag of tricks - layered soundscapes to which Yorke bemoans the state of the world - into something cautiously optimistic, just as the band’s winking name implies. That’s not to say A Light for Attracting Attention (out Friday, May 13th) offers more of the same. Still, the group hits all of Radiohead’s principal marks, from nimble, arpeggiated guitar lines to swelling, doomsday-soundtracking orchestral pieces. The Smile, the duo’s new project, sees Yorke and Greenwood rounded out not by their usual bandmates, but by Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner. Put them together, however, and, no matter who else is in the room, you get Radiohead. Thom Yorke makes experimental electronic music as a solo artist, and Jonny Greenwood writes emotive classical film scores as a composer. The post The Smile’s A Light for Attracting Attention Is an Album for Attracting Radiohead Fans appeared first on Consequence.
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