Grin and hear it

Radiohead offshoot's solid new LP, more high drama from Future Islands.

- GRAHAM REID

The solo projects of Radiohead members in the eight years since their last album, A Moon-Shaped Pool, have delivered mixed results. The most consistent have come from Jonny Greenwood (soundtracks for Phantom Thread and The Power of the Dog among them) and Thom Yorke's experimental electronica album Anima and the Suspiria soundtrack.

The Smile are Yorke, Greenwood and drummer Tom Skinner, co-founder of Sons of Kemet and with a lengthy discography of appearances in numerous contemporary British avantjazz outfits.

They broke cover with A Light for Attracting Attention (2022) which defied easy categorisation. Yorke's signature angst and social unease was often transmitted as dreamy soulful weariness as Skinner's dextrous rhythms uncoupled the music from rock tropes in songs embellished by strings and brass.

Warm hasn't been an adjective often applied to Radiohead, but it was appropriate for the group's debut.