Photo Credit: ShinKatan x Weirdcore
Hot on the heels of its massively acclaimed 2022 debut A Light for Attracting Attention and chart-topping sophomore offering Wall Of Eyes earlier this year, The Smile continue a hot streak today with the announcement of its third studio album Cutouts. Set to arrive on Oct. 4 via XL Recordings, the third full-length entry from the Radiohead offshoot–featuring Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood and Tom Skinner–is composed of tracks set to tape during the Wall Of Eyes sessions, including some fan-favorite new material that the trio has worked into its tour repertoire. To accompany today’s announcement, the band has shared two preview singles “Zero Sum” and “Foreign Spies,” which are available on all streaming platforms now.
Of The Smile’s latest cuts, fans will be more familiar with “Zero Sum,” which has become a recent fixture on the band’s tour setlists; with Yorke’s airy, volatile vocals, Greenwood’s frenetic cascades of guitar and a shuttering, jitterbug backbeat from Skinner, the song is unmistakably the trio’s and sure to earn a vaunted position in its catalog. “Foreign Spies,” the album’s opening track, is all new, with Yorke guiding the listener down into an ethereal eddy of synth lines, running together into an unparsable melancholy. Both tracks are figured against hypnotic music videos from audio-visual artist Weirdcore, who sets a definite visual language to The Smile’s new project.
The two new singles join two others shared on the band’s surprise vinyl release, which quietly landed on the shelves of indie record stores earlier in August with “Don’t Get Me Started” and “The Slip.” While the latter has not yet seen an official digital release, the former is another affecting synthscape that moodily drifts in and out of focus. Other cuts from the 10-track project feature string arrangements from the London Contemporary Orchestra, which also supported the band’s first two albums.
The Smile’s Cutouts is available to pre-order and pre-save now. Watch the official music videos for “Zero Sum,” “Foreign Spies” and “Don’t Get Me Started” below.
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