Cutouts
by The Smile
- Type: Album
- Released: 4 October 2024
- Label: XL
- Country: United Kingdom
- Length: 44:01
- Community rating: 3.72/5 from 24 ratings
Artists on this release: Thom Yorke, Tom Skinner, Jonny Greenwood
Album Notes & Community Reviews
The Smile鈥檚 third album, 'Cutouts', expands on the band's experimental rock sound with looser, funkier, and more rhythmically complex arrangements than its predecessor, 'Wall of Eyes'. Pulled from the same recording sessions, the album prioritizes a raw, atmospheric quality, weaving together Jonny Greenwood's delay-heavy guitar, Tom Skinner's intricate drumming, and orchestral arrangements from the London Contemporary Orchestra. Thematically, it addresses sociopolitical dread and digital alienation, with its title referencing an espionage term for two-dimensional proxy characters, which Thom Yorke connects to the nature of online avatars.
Genres
Descriptors: male vocalist, progressive, uncommon time signatures, atmospheric, rhythmic, existential
Tracklist
- Foreign Spies (4:48)
- Instant Psalm (4:18)
- Zero Sum (2:47)
- Colours Fly (4:55)
- Eyes & Mouth (3:59)
- Don't Get Me Started (5:55)
- Tiptoe (3:30)
- The Slip (4:29)
- No Words (4:16)
- Bodies Laughing (4:57)
Credits
- The Smile - primary artist, written-by
- Stanley Donwood - artwork, design
- Thom Yorke - artwork, design, voice, guitar, bass, piano, synthesizer, words by
- Hugh Brunt - conductor [lco]
- Tom Skinner - drums, synthesizer, percussion, vocals
- Oli Middleton - engineer
- Sam Petts-Davies - engineer, producer, mixed by
- Tom Ashpitel - engineer [abbey road assistant engineer]
- Tom Bailey - engineer [orchestral engineer]
- Jonny Greenwood - guitar, bass, piano, synthesizer, arranged by [orchestral arrangements], cello, programmed by [maxmsp]
- Barry Grint - lacquer cut by
- Eloisa-Fleur Thom - leader [lco]
- Greg Calbi - mastered by
- Jake Simmonds - other [iq tested by]
- Joe Wyatt - recorded by [abbey road recordist], engineer [assistant engineer]
- London Contemporary Orchestra - strings
- Pete Clements - technician [studio tech]
- Pete Wareham - featuring, baritone saxophone
- Robert Stillman - featuring, tenor saxophone, bass clarinet