# The Smile (band)
**The Smile** is an English art rock band formed by [Thom Yorke](https://www.edgepedia.org/thom-yorke) and Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead with the British jazz drummer Tom Skinner of Sons of Kemet, signed to [XL Recordings](https://www.edgepedia.org/xl-recordings) and working with the longtime [Radiohead](https://www.edgepedia.org/radiohead) producer Nigel Godrich.[1](https://shop.xlrecordings.com/release/346513-the-smile-a-light-for-attracting-attention?lang=en_US) • [2](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/radiohead-thom-yorke-jonny-greenwood-the-smile-1173430/) The trio grew out of a 2018 jam session, made its public debut on a Glastonbury livestream in May 2021, and released three albums in three years: *A Light for Attracting Attention* (2022), *Wall of Eyes* (January 2024), and *Cutouts* (October 2024).[3](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-21/thom-yorke-the-smile-interview-cutouts-australian-solo-tour/104490320)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Members | Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead) with Tom Skinner (drummer and co-founder of the jazz collective Sons of Kemet)[1](https://shop.xlrecordings.com/release/346513-the-smile-a-light-for-attracting-attention?lang=en_US) |
| Name | Taken from the title of a Ted Hughes poem; Yorke: "Not the smile as in 'ahh', more the smile as in the guy who lies to you every day"[4](https://www.xlrecordings.com/artists/the-smile) |
| Origin | 2018 jam session to which Greenwood invited Skinner; Yorke joined after several sessions; the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the trio's progress[3](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-21/thom-yorke-the-smile-interview-cutouts-australian-solo-tour/104490320) |
| Debut | Surprise headliner of the Glastonbury *Live at Worthy Farm* livestream, May 2021, playing eight new songs in a half-hour set[3](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-21/thom-yorke-the-smile-interview-cutouts-australian-solo-tour/104490320) |
| Albums | *A Light for Attracting Attention* (XL1196, 13 May 2022, produced by Nigel Godrich); *Wall of Eyes* (January 2024, produced by Sam Petts-Davies); *Cutouts* (October 2024)[1](https://shop.xlrecordings.com/release/346513-the-smile-a-light-for-attracting-attention?lang=en_US) • [5](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-smile-mn0004178913) |
| Sound | Stripped-down, funk-rooted art rock with tricky time signatures and jazzier grooves; *Wall of Eyes* adds psychedelia, 1970s German motorik, and London Contemporary Orchestra strings[6](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/29/arts/music/the-smile-wall-of-eyes-review.html) • [7](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/jan/20/the-smile-wall-of-eyes-review-radiohead-jonny-greenwood-thom-yorke-tom-skinner-sons-of-kemet) |
| Status | Touring paused as of October 2024 after Greenwood was seriously ill with an infection requiring emergency hospital treatment[3](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-21/thom-yorke-the-smile-interview-cutouts-australian-solo-tour/104490320) |
## History and formation
The project began in 2018, when [Jonny Greenwood](https://www.edgepedia.org/jonny-greenwood) invited Tom Skinner, drummer and co-founder of the jazz collective [Sons of Kemet](https://www.edgepedia.org/sons-of-kemet), to a jam session. Thom Yorke joined after several sessions, and the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the trio's progress.[3](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-21/thom-yorke-the-smile-interview-cutouts-australian-solo-tour/104490320) The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek's authority record dates the band's activity from 2018 and lists it as a rock band of Yorke, Greenwood, and Skinner in Great Britain.[8](https://portal.dnb.de/opacPresentation?cqlMode=true&query=idn%3D1350769266&referrerPosition=0&referrerResultId=idn%3D135339529%26any&reset=true)
**Announcement and debut.** Yorke announced the band on a Saturday morning in May 2021, hours before its first performance on the *Glastonbury Festival Presents Live at Worthy Farm* livestream.[2](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/radiohead-thom-yorke-jonny-greenwood-the-smile-1173430/) Earlier that week Yorke had shared the [Ted Hughes](https://www.edgepedia.org/ted-hughes) poem "The Smile" on social media without context; the band took its name from that poem.[2](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/radiohead-thom-yorke-jonny-greenwood-the-smile-1173430/) • [4](https://www.xlrecordings.com/artists/the-smile) As the surprise headliner, the band played eight new songs in a half-hour set.[3](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-21/thom-yorke-the-smile-interview-cutouts-australian-solo-tour/104490320) The Guardian's account of the debut described the Smile as a raw, almost post-punk outfit, in sharp contrast with Radiohead's more rococo output.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/feb/05/the-smile-live-stream-thom-yorke-jonny-greenwood-tom-skinner-magazine-london)
## Members and musical roles
The core trio is Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, and Tom Skinner on drums.[1](https://shop.xlrecordings.com/release/346513-the-smile-a-light-for-attracting-attention?lang=en_US) [Nigel Godrich](https://www.edgepedia.org/nigel-godrich), the longtime Radiohead collaborator, produced and mixed the debut album.[2](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/radiohead-thom-yorke-jonny-greenwood-the-smile-1173430/) • [1](https://shop.xlrecordings.com/release/346513-the-smile-a-light-for-attracting-attention?lang=en_US)
Skinner's jazz background shapes the band's rhythmic character. Reviewers describe the group's grooves as looser and jazzier than Radiohead's, built on tricky time signatures and kinetic guitar work.[3](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-21/thom-yorke-the-smile-interview-cutouts-australian-solo-tour/104490320) On record the trio is expanded by the London Contemporary Orchestra and a brass section of contemporary UK jazz players including Byron Wallen, Theon and Nathaniel Cross, Chelsea Carmichael, Robert Stillman, and Jason Yarde on the debut, with Robert Stillman (clarinet/saxophone) and Pete Wareham (flute) contributing to *Wall of Eyes*.[1](https://shop.xlrecordings.com/release/346513-the-smile-a-light-for-attracting-attention?lang=en_US) • [5](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-smile-mn0004178913)
## Discography
The first single, "You Will Never Work in Television Again", was released in January 2022, which AllMusic describes as a knotty, guitar-driven rush of motorik post-punk.[5](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-smile-mn0004178913) The debut, *A Light for Attracting Attention*, was released on XL Recordings (catalog number XL1196) on May 13, 2022: a 13-track album produced and mixed by Nigel Godrich and mastered by Bob Ludwig.[1](https://shop.xlrecordings.com/release/346513-the-smile-a-light-for-attracting-attention?lang=en_US) Its single "Pana-vision" appeared in the finale of *Peaky Blinders*.[1](https://shop.xlrecordings.com/release/346513-the-smile-a-light-for-attracting-attention?lang=en_US)
**Second and third albums.** *Wall of Eyes* followed in January 2024, produced by Sam Petts-Davies and featuring the London Contemporary Orchestra, Robert Stillman, and Pete Wareham.[5](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-smile-mn0004178913) The band also surprise-released two songs on vinyl, "Don't Get Me Started" b/w "The Slip", before the third album.[5](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-smile-mn0004178913) *Cutouts*, released in October 2024, collects 10 tracks recorded at Greenwood's house in Oxford and at London's Abbey Road Studios during the same period as *Wall of Eyes*; the two songs from the vinyl single landed on it.[3](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-21/thom-yorke-the-smile-interview-cutouts-australian-solo-tour/104490320) • [5](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-smile-mn0004178913)
## Musical style
The debut album and the band's early live recordings presented what the New York Times described as a mostly stripped-down, cerebrally twisted funk band, akin to Yorke's 2012 project [Atoms for Peace](https://www.edgepedia.org/atoms-for-peace-band).[6](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/29/arts/music/the-smile-wall-of-eyes-review.html) On *Wall of Eyes* the band questions and undermines its own grooves, often letting them emerge only gradually, then deflating them or obscuring them in complexly hazy productions.[6](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/29/arts/music/the-smile-wall-of-eyes-review.html) The Guardian hears the second album adding psychedelia, 1970s German motorik, and the strings of the London Contemporary Orchestra to the debut's funkiness and rage.[7](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/jan/20/the-smile-wall-of-eyes-review-radiohead-jonny-greenwood-thom-yorke-tom-skinner-sons-of-kemet)
Greenwood's parallel career as a film composer includes scores for *There Will Be Blood*, *Phantom Thread*, and *The Power of the Dog*.[6](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/29/arts/music/the-smile-wall-of-eyes-review.html)
## Comparison with Radiohead
Critics have framed The Smile from the start as a Radiohead spinoff, and the members' own activity during Radiohead's inactivity supports the framing. The Guardian's 2024 review states that the Smile are categorically where Yorke and Greenwood are expending their A-game energies while Radiohead remains inactive.[7](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/jan/20/the-smile-wall-of-eyes-review-radiohead-jonny-greenwood-thom-yorke-tom-skinner-sons-of-kemet) The ABC's summary of the contrast is that Radiohead still does the dread-inducing electronics and symphonic-laden art rock of the main gig, while The Smile leans into kinetic spasms of guitar and tricky time signatures spiced with looser, jazzier grooves.[3](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-21/thom-yorke-the-smile-interview-cutouts-australian-solo-tour/104490320)
The distinction has not gone unchallenged. The Guardian's February 2022 live review asked pointedly: exactly how is this not a Radiohead gig, beyond the absence of [Colin Greenwood](https://www.edgepedia.org/colin-greenwood), Ed O'Brien, and Phil Selway?[9](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/feb/05/the-smile-live-stream-thom-yorke-jonny-greenwood-tom-skinner-magazine-london) The same review found that the rawness hailed at the [Glastonbury](https://www.edgepedia.org/glastonbury) debut proved ephemeral: the 15-song set showed intense, layered songs, and opened with an invocation by [William Blake](https://www.edgepedia.org/william-blake), that great observer of humanity's double nature.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/feb/05/the-smile-live-stream-thom-yorke-jonny-greenwood-tom-skinner-magazine-london)
## Live performances and touring
After the 2021 livestream debut, the band worked new material into live sets over successive tours. Several *Wall of Eyes* songs, including "Bending Hectic", the album's nail-biting car-accident set piece, had been debuted live and released as much as a year before the album appeared.[7](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/jan/20/the-smile-wall-of-eyes-review-radiohead-jonny-greenwood-thom-yorke-tom-skinner-sons-of-kemet)
**The 2024 halt.** In 2024 Greenwood became seriously ill from an infection that needed emergency hospital treatment, as the band wrote in a statement, and European shows were canceled.[3](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-21/thom-yorke-the-smile-interview-cutouts-australian-solo-tour/104490320) Speaking in October 2024, Yorke said Greenwood was still recovering and that touring was not really something the band was currently discussing: "We're on a pause."[3](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-21/thom-yorke-the-smile-interview-cutouts-australian-solo-tour/104490320)
## Reception and by the numbers
The band's output rate is unusual for a side project: three albums in as many years, 2022 to 2024, with the last two recorded in the same period.[3](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-21/thom-yorke-the-smile-interview-cutouts-australian-solo-tour/104490320) What has changed since 2023 is the pace and the touring outlook: two albums arrived in 2024, Greenwood's illness cut the touring schedule short, and the band entered an indefinite pause rather than a breakup, with Yorke simultaneously pursuing a solo tour.[3](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-21/thom-yorke-the-smile-interview-cutouts-australian-solo-tour/104490320)
## References
1. [The Smile — A Light for Attracting Attention, XL Recordings shop](https://shop.xlrecordings.com/release/346513-the-smile-a-light-for-attracting-attention?lang=en_US)
2. [Radiohead's Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood Form New Project the Smile, Rolling Stone](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/radiohead-thom-yorke-jonny-greenwood-the-smile-1173430/)
3. [The Smile and Thom Yorke on making Cutouts and upcoming Australian tour, ABC News](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-21/thom-yorke-the-smile-interview-cutouts-australian-solo-tour/104490320)
4. [The Smile — XL Recordings artist page](https://www.xlrecordings.com/artists/the-smile)
5. [The Smile — Biography, Discography, Albums & Expert Reviews, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-smile-mn0004178913)
6. [The Smile Gets Wonderfully Stranger, The New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/29/arts/music/the-smile-wall-of-eyes-review.html)
7. [The Smile: Wall of Eyes review, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/jan/20/the-smile-wall-of-eyes-review-radiohead-jonny-greenwood-thom-yorke-tom-skinner-sons-of-kemet)
8. [The Smile (Musikgruppe), Deutsche Nationalbibliothek authority record](https://portal.dnb.de/opacPresentation?cqlMode=true&query=idn%3D1350769266&referrerPosition=0&referrerResultId=idn%3D135339529%26any&reset=true)
9. [The Smile review — Yorke and Greenwood stay close to the mothership, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/feb/05/the-smile-live-stream-thom-yorke-jonny-greenwood-tom-skinner-magazine-london)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musicians and ensembles › Ensembles and groups › Rock, pop, and metal bands › Rock, indie, and pop groups › Rock bands › Progressive rock bands*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license