The Smile – Wall of Eyes – Album Review
by Killian Laher

After an impressive debut album, The Smile return with a second helping of songs from this Radiohead-related project.  Maybe it’s the influence of Thom Yorke’s voice but it’s difficult to escape the aforementioned band while listening to this.  It opens with the downright groovy title track, which bobs along nicely, like one of Radiohead’s more chilled-out tunes.  Teleharmonic is less structured and a little formless but pleasant nonetheless.  The intensity is dialled up with Read The Room which drifts along for three minutes before Jonny Greenwood’s great guitar riff comes in. Under Our Pillows will appeal to anyone who likes the knottier side of Radiohead, with its bleeps and blops and rewarding twists and turns.

The becalmed piano of Friend of a Friend calls to mind Pyramid Song, and this leads nicely into I Quit, which rambles for two minutes or so before soaring serenely.  The eight-minute Bending Hectic is the centrepiece.  It drifts along nicely for five and a half minutes before a shrill electronic pulse leads right into enormous sledgehammer riffs.  It sounds bloody great!  The album ends with the falsetto-led coda of You Know Me.

It’s interesting that the songs are by and large less obtuse and more accessible than some of Radiohead’s more recent work.  There’s a lot for fans of that band to digest here and it will satiate them given the long wait for more Radiohead material.

Wall of Eyes