“Bending Hectic” is the band’s first new music for 2023, ushering in what we hope to be a consistent stream of recorded material from the band.
The Smile are a supergroup of sorts, featuring Thom York and Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead, and producer, drummer, percussionist extraordinaire Tom Skinner. This week sees new single “Bending Hectic” go live everywhere after being recorded at world famous Abbey Road Studios. Skinner is a member of jazz group Sons of Kemet, his musicianship and producer-focused mindset bringing new life to the stalwart alt-rock figureheads that are York and Greenwood.
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The Smile have been performing live since the release of their debut record A Light For Attracting Attention, and while “Bending Hectic” was performed at The Smile’s appearance at Montreux Jazz Festival in 2022, it did not appear on the subsequent live album that followed, The Smile (Live at Montreux Jazz Festival, July 2022).
“Bending Hectic” is the band’s first new music for 2023, ushering in what we hope to be a consistent stream of recorded material from the band. The single opens with a suitably ‘bendy’ guitar riff, slowly moving through additional percussive textures before the arrangement makes way for York’s iconic, intimate vocal style. Skinner’s drumming and percussion litter the song with little hooks and earworms that keep the arrangement full while remaining sparse and minimal—his own unique stamp on the song.
The standalone single features strings by the London Contemporary Orchestra, ebbing and flowing in a “Day In The Life” style swell that crescendos into something more reminiscent of Radiohead or the more rock focused songs we’ve known from The Smile. The single was produced by Sam Petts-Davies, whose credits include Frank Ocean, Radiohead, Roger Walters, and now The Smile.
The Smile’s Light For Attracting Attention received much praise from the industry at large, including Pitchfork, Uncut, MOJO, Rough Trade, Billboard, New York Times, Consequence and many more.
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