The Smile – Wall Of Eyes (2024) [FLAC 24bit/44,1kHz]

The Smile – Wall Of Eyes (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 45:17 minutes | 477 MB | Genre: Post-Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © XL Recordings

The Smile’s new album Wall Of Eyes, will be released on 26th January on XL Recordings. The new album, was recorded between Oxford and Abbey Road Studios, and is produced and mixed Sam Petts-Davies. It features string arrangements by the London Contemporary Orchestra. Wall Of Eyes is the follow up their 2022 debut LP A Light For Attracting AttentionJanuary is barely ending, and here we already have one of the finest albums of 2024. The triumvirate formed by the two geniuses of Radiohead, Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, and Sons Of Kemet’s drummer, Tom Skinner, under the banner of The Smile, wastes no time. Exactly one year after their surprise revelation on the Glastonbury livestream (thanks to the pandemic) in 2021, the trio released their first full-length album, A Light For Attracting Attention. With it, the complex and fascinating universe of the Oxford quintet is finally revisited—minus Colin Greenwood, Ed O’Brien, and Phil Selway—while gaining grandeur through the strings of the London Contemporary Orchestra, already at work in 2016 on Radiohead’s A Moon Shaped Pool, as well as the most prominent brass and winds from the London jazz scene (including Chelsea Charmichael and Robert Stillman).

More compact, Wall Of Eyes lets warmth in. Opening the way with only seven other tracks, the title track teleports us to the tropics with its bossa acoustic guitar and Yorke’s reverberating vocals. The smooth synths of a nearly R&B “Teleharmonic” follow, leading to the riffs of “Read The Room” and “Under The Pillows,” creating a trippy rock passage. We then enter the dreamy piano ballad “Friend Of A Friend” and almost drown in the synthetic layers of “I Quit” before the deluge of distortions in the eight-minute “Bendic Hectic” explodes after an anxiety-inducing violin ascent. “You Know Me!” draws the curtain with the gentle piano, providing a final that’s as cinematic as ever. Recorded at the legendary Abbey Road studios, with Sam Petts-Davies taking the place of the faithful producer Nigel Godrich, this second album showcases a trio in full alchemy, increasingly inspired by Can rather than the Beatles, and completely seasoned by their live shows. A masterpiece. – Charlotte Saintoin

Tracklist:

1-1. The Smile – Wall Of Eyes (05:05)
1-2. The Smile – Teleharmonic (05:10)
1-3. The Smile – Read The Room (05:14)
1-4. The Smile – Under Our Pillows (06:14)
1-5. The Smile – Friend Of A Friend (04:35)
1-6. The Smile – I Quit (05:32)
1-7. The Smile – Bending Hectic (08:03)
1-8. The Smile – You Know Me! (05:21)

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