''A Light for Attracting Attention'' is the debut studio album by the English rock band the Smile. It was digitally released through

XL Recordings XL Recordings is a British independent record label founded in 1989 by Tim Palmer and Nick Halkes. It has been ran and co-owned by Richard Russell since 1996. It forms part of the Beggars Group. Although only releasing an average of six alb ...

on 13 May, 2022, with a physical release on 17 June. The Smile comprises the Radiohead members

Thom Yorke Thomas Edward Yorke (born 7 October 1968) is an English musician and the main vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Radiohead. A multi-instrumentalist, he mainly plays guitar and keyboards and is noted for his falsetto. He has been describ ...

and

Jonny Greenwood Jonathan Richard Guy Greenwood (born 5 November 1971) is an English musician and composer. He is the lead guitarist and keyboardist of the alternative rock band Radiohead, and has written numerous film scores. Along with his elder brother, t ...

with the drummer

Tom Skinner Sir Thomas Edward Skinner (18 April 1909 – 11 November 1991) was a New Zealand politician and Trades Union leader. Sir Tom served as President of the Auckland Trades Council from 1954 to 1976, and President of the New Zealand Federation of ...

. Yorke provided vocals, and he and Greenwood played guitar, bass and keyboards. The album was produced by Radiohead's longtime producer

Nigel Godrich Nigel Timothy Godrich (born 28 February 1971) is an English record producer, recording engineer and musician. He is known for his work with the English rock band Radiohead, having produced all their studio albums since '' OK Computer'' (1997). ...

. The Smile worked during the

COVID-19 lockdowns Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of non-pharmaceutical interventions colloquially known as lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar societal restrictions) have been implemented in numerous count ...

and made their surprise debut in a performance streamed by

Glastonbury Festival Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contempo ...

in May 2021. In early 2022, they released five singles and performed to an audience for the first time at three shows in London in January, which were livestreamed. They began a European tour in May. ''A Light for Attracting Attention'' received acclaim and reached number five on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

Background and recording

The Smile comprises the Radiohead members

and

with the Sons of Kemet drummer

. They made their debut in a surprise performance for the concert video ''Live at Worthy Farm'', produced by

and streamed on May 22, 2021. The Smile began working on ''A Light for Attracting Attention'' shortly before the first UK

, with Radiohead's longtime producer

. According to Yorke, Greenwood and Skinner "had already tracked about four things before I even knew what was going on". Yorke wrote the lyrics in his home during the lockdowns; he recorded his vocals to Godrich's studio from his home using streaming software, before his children returned from school each day. Yorke said "It got sort of protracted ... It was deeply frustrating, but it's been the same for everybody." According to Greenwood, the album was almost complete by September 2021. Yorke performed a Smile song, "Free in the Knowledge", at the Letters Live event at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...

, London, in October. On January 29 and 30, the Smile performed to an audience for the first time at three shows at Magazine, London, which were livestreamed. Yorke first performed " Skrting on the Surface" in 2009, and in a different arrangement in 2012 with Radiohead. He first performed "Open the Floodgates" solo in 2009.

Composition

Per various critics, ''A Light for Attracting Attention'' is an

art rock Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that generally reflects a challenging or avant-garde approach to rock, or which makes use of modernist, experimental, or unconventional elements. Art rock aspires to elevate rock from entertainment to an art ...

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-r ...

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to ...

, and

Afrobeats Afrobeats (not to be confused with Afrobeat or Afroswing), or Afro-pop or Afro-fusion (or Afropop or Afrofusion), is an umbrella term to describe popular music from West Africa and the diaspora that initially developed in Nigeria, Ghana, and ...

album that explores elements of

math rock Math rock is a style of progressive and indie rock with roots in bands such as King Crimson and Rush as well as 20th-century minimal music composers such as Steve Reich. It is characterized by complex, atypical rhythmic structures (including ...

post-rock Post-rock is a form of experimental rock characterized by a focus on exploring textures and timbre over traditional rock song structures, chords, or riffs. Post-rock artists are often instrumental, typically combining rock instrumentation ...

, grunge,

electro-rock Electronic rock is a music genre that involves a combination of rock music and electronic music, featuring instruments typically found within both genres. It originates from the late 1960s, when rock bands began incorporating electronic instrume ...

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

desert rock, funk,

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

breakbeat Breakbeat is a broad type of electronic music that tends to use drum breaks sampled from early recordings of funk, jazz, and R&B. Breakbeats have been used in styles such as hip hop, jungle, drum and bass, big beat, breakbeat hardcore, and ...

, wonky, and

systems music Systems music is music with sound continua which evolve gradually, often over very long periods of time. Historically, the American minimalists Steve Reich, La Monte Young and Philip Glass are considered the principal proponents of this compositi ...

. The cover art was created by Yorke with Radiohead's longtime collaborator Stanley Donwood.

Release

The Smile began releasing singles in early 2022. On 5 January, their debut single, "

You Will Never Work in Television Again "You Will Never Work in Television Again" is a song by the English rock band the Smile. It was released on 5 January 2022 as the debut single from their debut album, ''A Light for Attracting Attention''. The Smile first performed it in the 202 ...

", was released to streaming services. On 27 January, they released their second single, " The Smoke", followed by " Skrting on the Surface" on 17 March. The fourth single, " Pana-vision", was released on 3 April alongside a new solo song from Yorke, "That's How Horses Are"; both were used in the series finale of the television series ''

Peaky Blinders The Peaky Blinders were a street gang based in Birmingham, England, which operated from the 1880s until the 1910s. The group consisted largely of young criminals from lower- to middle-class backgrounds. They engaged in robbery, violence, racket ...

'', broadcast that day. "Free in the Knowledge" was released on 20 April, and "Thin Thing" was released on 9 May. The Smile announced ''A Light for Attracting Attention'' on 20 April 2022, alongside the "Free in the Knowledge" single. It was released digitally through

on 13 May, with a physical release on 17 June. The Smile began a European tour on 16 May, with a North American tour to follow in November.

Reception

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, ''A Light for Attracting Attention'' has a score of 86 out of 100 based on 23 reviews from critics, indicating "universal acclaim". ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

'' awarded it their "best new music" accolade, with the critic Ryan Dombal writing that it was "instantly, unmistakably the best album yet by a Radiohead side project". In June 2022, '' Spin'' named ''A Light for Attracting Attention'' the best album of the year so far. The critic Zach Schonfeld wrote that its best moments equalled any of Yorke and Greenwood's work since the 2007 Radiohead album '' In Rainbows'', and that "it almost makes you want to send Radiohead's other three members a sympathy card". ''

Uncut Uncut may refer to: * ''Uncut'' (film), a 1997 Canadian docudrama film by John Greyson about censorship * ''Uncut'' (magazine), a monthly British magazine with a focus on music, which began publishing in May 1997 * '' BET: Uncut'', a Black Enter ...

'' named it the best album of the year. ''A Light for Attracting Attention'' initially reached number 19 on the

. After its retail release a month later, it reached number five.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from album liner notes. The Smile *

– vocals (all tracks); synthesiser (tracks 1, 2, 9–12); piano (tracks 1, 4, 8); guitar (tracks 1, 3, 6, 10, 12); bass (tracks 5, 7, 13); vocoder (track 7); sequencer (track 8); acoustic guitar (track 9) *

– synthesiser (tracks 1 and 11); guitar (tracks 1–3, 5, 7, 8, 13); piano (tracks 1, 6, 9); bass (tracks 2–4, 9, 10, 12, 13); keyboards (6); acoustic guitar (track 11); harp (track 6) * Tom Skinner – drums (tracks 2–7, 9–13); percussion (tracks 2 and 6) Production *

Bob Ludwig Robert C. Ludwig (born c. 1945) is an American mastering engineer. He has mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists including Led Zeppelin, Lou Reed, Quee ...

– mastering Artwork * Thom Yorke * Stanley Donwood Additional musicians * London Contemporary Orchestra ** Hugh Brunt – orchestration ** Eloisa-Fleur Thom – violin ** Alessandro Ruisi – violin ** Zara Benyounes – violin ** Sophie Mather – violin ** Agata Daraskaite – violin ** Charlotte Bonneton – violin ** Zoe Matthews – viola ** Clifton Harrison – viola ** Oliver Coates – cello ** Max Ruisi – cello ** Clare O’Connell – cello * Jason Yarde – saxophone * Robert Stillman – saxophone * Chelsea Carmichael – flute * Nathaniel Cross – trombone *

Byron Wallen Byron Wallen (born July 1969) is a British jazz trumpeter, composer and educator. He was described by '' Jazzwise'' as "one of the most innovative, exciting and original trumpet players alive". As characterised by '' All About Jazz'', "He does no ...

– trumpet *

Theon Cross Theon Cross is a British tuba player and composer. Background Born and raised in London to a Jamaican father and Saint Lucian mother, he began taking tenor horn lessons at the age of 8, then switched to tuba when he was in his mid-teens. He ...

– tuba * Tom Herbert – double bass * Dave Brown – double bass

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Light for Attracting Attention 2022 debut albums Albums produced by Nigel Godrich XL Recordings albums Art rock albums by British artists Progressive rock albums by British artists Post-punk albums by British artists Electronica albums by British artists Afrobeats albums