Cutouts

The Smile’s 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.