The Smile – Friend of a Friend Review

With little to say to friends let alone friends of friends, The Smile tap into an awkwardness of social etiquette. Their moody jazz tones lend themselves especially well to this latest single, heading up Wall of Eyes as Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, and Tom Skinner push forth with a bold track. Ignore those Radiohead comparisons – they are cop-outs and too easy a way to describe the post-group works of Yorke and Greenwood. They will return to those particulars later, but Friend of a Friend has all the functions and fears of a truly great single, one which leads listeners on with a frigid charm. It should be expected of the off-centre stylings The Smile has carried through so far. Long may it continue. 

This third single for Wall of Eyes is a sharp change of pace for Yorke in particular. His vocals have never sounded so clear and removed from electronic manipulation or massive flurries of instrumental overlap before. This is a fascinatingly stripped-back piece from The Smile, whose works so far are better attached to the wild and rapid builds of well-layered explosions of sound. Forget all you know of The Smile, then. Friend of a Friend is a touching beast of a song, dedicated percussion of a lounge-like variety and a tender skill to the piano work throughout it. Shimmering, off-centre and rising instrumentals are a tremendous pull for The Smile, a subtle number which slides away from identifiable and into an immediate, world-beating classic. Delicacy of this nature is hard to uphold and yet for a near five minutes, Yorke and company do just that.  

Friend of a Friend marks a new spectacle for The Smile – a surprise change in form compared to Bending Hectic and Wall of Eyes. There is pleading hopelessness to those lyrics in isolation, the need and justification to travel and be free found in those moments where Yorke is left to consider it all on his own, the pained piano providing little comfort. Friend of a Friend is a remarkable achievement for The Smile, with their titular act of openness observed not as a friendly welcome but as the minimum requirement to keep someone where they find themselves. New hopes and horizons should and are a constant. Keep on pushing, as Nick Cave once demanded of his listeners. Now, The Smile pleads with their listeners to do the same, to hold onto this hopeful change of pace. 

Career forward and stick to it, then. The Smile has provided a bold change in style and tact as a way of conveying the demanding needs of friends and family, who may be overwhelmed to see you but the grins are all the same. Friend of a Friend rejects placid touches to the world around us and instead begs listeners to leap from the pocket of their friends’ friends, and instead venture forth for some new experience. The Smile has more than a few charming appearances to make on this record so far, with Wall of Eyes a dead cert for one of the best of the year – and it gets there by breaching the comfort zone and exploring new, tricky horizons.