The Smile have been getting people exercised, more so than one would expect.
There’s the usual crew who don’t get Radiohead. I can understand that – the band’s music can be obtuse and challenging, Thom Yorke’s vocals have their idiosyncrasies. As one of my friends might say – it’s not for everyone.
Then there’s the Radiohead fans who seem to worry about how the Smile should be approached and their relationship is to the host band’s future.
My advice having been swept away by the band’s performance at Ally Pally is as follows:
The Smile – just a band.
Take them for what they are and enjoy the moment. If this is fleeting and a temporary spin off then so be it. If this is for keeps, relax. The band continue to forge ahead and are arguably more approachable than Radiohead, more melodically and rhythmically accessible and inviting.
All this focus on Radiohead is doing the Smile a disservice. They are clearly a different band and much of the reason for that sits with drummer Tom Skinner. His style is based on his jazz heritage with his own solo catalogue on International Anthem and his time with Shabaka Hutchings in Sons of Kemet. His playing has a litheness and looseness that provides more space for the band to enjoy. The swing is there, less rigid than some of the electronic beats that his bandmates Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood have played within in recent years.
I may be imagining it, but another factor is that these two musicians switch the bass guitar role between them. I’m just about to compare myself to two members of one of the most innovative bands of the last thirty years but please bear with me. I play the guitar myself, and when I pick up a bass, I approach it as a guitar – I try to shape chords and arpeggiate. I’m pretty lousy, but it is a different approach, and I saw some of that at Ally Pally. Very rarely did either just pin down the rhythm. The bass was another interlocking piece in the melodic jigsaw.
This results in music that is genuinely slinky and funky, a recurring African beat on new song Don’t Get Me Started. The Beatles-ish Friend of a Friend is performed as a piano trio, light and delicate.
American musician Robert Stillman supplements, adding woodwind, brass and keyboards. I envy those who saw them in Manchester, the line up embellished with a full string section. Stillman’s contributions are subtle and textural.
For a band with just two album, the well didn’t run dry. New songs were introduced, including the psych raga Instant Psalm and Colours Fly. Obvious songs were omitted – no Free In The Knowledge, arguably the song that would fit most closely into the parent band’s repertoire.
Bending Hectic finished the main set and already feels like an acknowledged cornerstone. Greenwood’s detuning guitar adds tension as Yorke lets go of the wheel before sheets of sound release the tension.
You’ll Never Work in Television Again was declamatory, with Thom channeling his inner Dylan – somebody ain’t going to work on Maggies Farm no more.
The proliferation of new material suggests that this isn’t a full stop. I hope not—it seems perverse to suggest that musicians over thirty years into their careers have potential, but it feels like the Smile have room to grow.
If not, then no sweat. Like some of the best jazz musicians, it is a group of very talented people who have come into each other’s orbit at a point in time and hit a hot streak.
In the words of the late great Bill Hicks – enjoy the ride.
BlackCountryRock 