The Smile Is Finally Back With New Single ‘Bending Hectic’
The eight-minute track is Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, and jazz drummer Tom Skinner of Sons of Kemet’s first new music of 2023
Nearly a year after The Smile surprised fans with a new song at Montreux Jazz Festival, with Thom Yorke confessing he had only written the words 30 minutes before taking the stage, the band has finally released their new single, “Bending Hectic.”
The eight-minute track by Radiohead’s Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, and jazz drummer Tom Skinner of Sons of Kemet, marks the band’s first release of 2023 after being recorded at London’s Abbey Road Studios earlier this year.
The band formed in 2020 as part of a COVID-19 lockdown side project and their 2022 debut album A Light for Attracting Attention was met with critical acclaim. But while on tour for the album, the group began teasing new music, with Yorke introducing the song during their encore performance at the Switzerland festival last July, remarking that it was a relief he could see the lyrics from a music stand before him.
“I can see the words — that’s good. ‘Cause I just wrote them about half an hour ago,” he said. “So, follow us down the train crash.”
Sam Petts-Davies, who is a longtime collaborator of Radiohead’s, was tapped as producer and the London Contemporary Orchestra features on strings.
