Gathering two members of Radiohead, is The Smile something to smile about? The answer is no. Named after a Ted Hughes poem, the band leans more towards the smirk of liars than towards bliss, Thom Yorke's favorite themes being always there in the background: alienation, doubt, loneliness, the search for meaning and, of course, experimentation.
With his playing partner Jonny Greenwood on guitar and bass, the duo on the road recruits Tom Skinner, former jazz-funk drummer of the Sons Of Kemet, and leaves the production to the unmovable Nigel Godrich.
If the light attracts the attention, it is the myriad of colored declensions which holds the ear. The songs seem to go in all directions, according to the wind and the waves.
From the incessant groove of 'The Smoke' to the delicate ambiences of 'Open The Floodgates', passing by the playful post-punk of 'You Will Never Work In Television Again' and the complex electro of 'A Hairdryer', "A Light For Attracting Attention" seems to trace its own road without caring about the external currents. The trio sounds like one man, the songs are more stripped down, the sound pattern more direct, the intentions simpler and the result more obvious.
What is the difference with Radiohead or Atoms For Peace? It's hard to say, as the sonic landscapes they travel through seem to resemble each other, like so many landscapes perceived from the window of a train every day at the same time. The journey seems identical but the sensations are each time unique, mobile in the mobile element.
This is perhaps what "seeing the light" is all about. Even if it makes you smile.