The Smile announced the release date for its upcoming second full-length album, Wall of Eyes, on Monday (Nov. 13), revealing that the follow-up to 2022’s debut LP, A Light for Attracting Attention, will drop on Jan.
26 via XL Recordings. The latest from the Radiohead spin-off group fronted by that group’s singer Thom Yorke and guitarist Jonny Greenwood as featuring Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner will coincide with a series of UK and European headlining dates in March.
The 8-song album was produced by Sam Petts-Davies (Warpaint, Frank Ocean) and recorded at Abbey Road Studios and in Oxford, UK, with string arrangements by the London Contemporary Orchestra.
A video for the brooding five-minute title track directed by Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza, Phantom Thread) also dropped on Monday and it finds singer Yorke contemplating connection in a hectic world.
The black and white clip opens with Yorke sitting alone in a room staring at the projected image of a giant eyeball as a wild wind suddenly whips him, forcing the morose vocalist out into the crowded, buzzing city streets and packed bars, where he appears to float unaffected through the swirling chaos.
Pre-sale tickets for the European tour will go on sale on Wednesday (Nov. 15) at 9 a.m. UK time, with a general onsale following on Friday (Nov. 17) here.
The performance was originally scheduled for 18 August but has been cancelled along with a series of others following a surgery Homme underwent earlier this month.
Recovery has taken longer than expected, and on Friday the band announced its withdrawal from Pukkelpop and from Dutch festival Lowlands.
“Due to continued medical care, it is under doctors’ orders that Josh Homme remain in their care in the United States,” Pukkelpop announced on social media. “We wish Josh a speedy recovery.”
The festival is now looking for a replacement headliner. Lowlands has booked Justice, an electronic duo from Paris.