THE SMILE - CUTOUTS (ALBUM REVIEW) VIA XL RECORDINGS/REMOTE CONTROL
The Smile, Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood’s side project, is back with their third album in three years, Cutouts. If you’re a fan of Radiohead, there’s no missing the connection. Cutouts emerged from the same sessions that gave us Wall of Eyes last January, and while both albums were shaped at Oxford and Abbey Road Studios under the direction of producer Sam Petts-Davies, they feel like two distinct explorations of sound.
Radiohead devotees will hear echoes of Kid A, Amnesiac, and the Pyramid Song era throughout Cutouts, but The Smile is more than just a nostalgic callback. Yorke and Greenwood are on a sonic side quest here, pushing their sound into new territory with a lush, minimalist beauty that’s timeless and modern at once.
The album opens with “Foreign Spies,” a slow burner that delivers the haunting, atmospheric Yorke we all know, but with subtle synth layers that add a striking freshness. If “Don’t Get Me Started” has been your recent go-to track, you’ll find a kindred spirit in this song. Then comes “Instant Palm,” a track that crashes in with orchestral disarray and simple, driving chords—a sweeping, yet restrained grandeur.
By the time you hit “Zero Sum,” the album takes a left turn into art-rock territory, with off-kilter rhythms and guitar-synth madness that brings to mind Talking Heads. Yorke’s vocals float through this organized chaos, adding to the unpredictable vibe that runs through the record.
One of the most interesting aspects of Cutouts is how quickly it follows Wall of Eyes. It’s the first time Yorke and Greenwood have released two albums in the same year since Kid A and Amnesiac. Maybe these projects needed to breathe separately, or maybe this quick-fire release pattern is how they’re embracing the moment. Either way, the parallels between these albums are hard to ignore.
Tracks like “Colors Fly” feel like grand, psych-infused jam sessions, with a relentless bassline, soaring guitars, and Yorke’s repeated “You can change your mind” anchoring the experience. The song builds and swells, creating a journey in itself, while “Eyes & Mouth” speeds things up with math-rock precision.
The second half of Cutouts introduces tracks like “Tiptoe,” an orchestral interlude that serves as a breather before launching into the final stretch—“Slip,” “No Words,” and “Bodies Laughing,” the latter being a perfect closer, full of quirky, desert-blues guitars and offbeat synths. The whole album has this intriguing blend of sounds that teeters between art-rock weirdness and understated beauty, especially in tracks like “No Words” and “Zero Sum.”
The Smile seems to live in that universe while carving out its own space, and Cutouts only adds to the excitement of where they’ll head next.