Radiohead side project The Smile have dropped a new live album from Montreux Jazz Festival, and it’s just as great as you’d expect.
Christmas has come early folks; we have a new live album from The Smile!
The Smile At Montreux Jazz Festival sees the group – comprised of Radiohead members Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood, as well as Sons of Kemet’s Tom Skinner — perform eight songs from their critically acclaimed debut album A Light For Attracting Attention.
The band have also released the full set as a concert film streaming for free on their YouTube. There’s a catch, however: the film is only available for the next 48 hours. It’s not something you’ll want to miss, as the filmed version includes a brand new track Bending Hectic which the group had written that very day.
Editor’s note: as promised, the band took down the full YouTube video of the performance after 48 hours, in its place I’ve embedded a segment of the performance that’s still available: a performance of The Smoke
The performance itself is electric. One of the fantastic things about Yorke is how fully he commits himself to the music he’s performing, and that commitment is alive and well for The Smile’s Montreux set.
A Light For Attracting Attention also translates perfectly to the live setting, with the added rawness of the stage breathing a new sense of life into the tracks in a manner reminiscent of Radiohead’s iconic The King Of Limbs From The Basement performance.
The Smile At Montreux Jazz Festival is available now on all major music streaming platforms. be sure to give it a listen.
