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The Smile, 'You Will Never Work In Television Again'

Late last May, Radiohead's Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood debuted The Smile, a new musical project with Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner. The group surprise premiered eight songs during a livestream of Glastonbury Festival's Live At Worthy Farm, but mostly kept quiet until this week when it dropped its debut single, "You Will Never Work In Television Again."

With heavy drums, angular guitars and Yorke's frantic vocals, it's one of the Glastonbury set's more intense tracks and brings to mind post-punk acts like Mission of Burma and Swell Maps. Yorke delivers his signature lyrical style with lines like "All thosе beautiful young hopes and dreams, devoured by those evil eyes and those piggy limbs." Longtime Radiohead collaborator Nigel Godrich produces the track with a minimal amount of flair, letting the urgent guitar chords drive home the music's message.

Copyright 2022 North Carolina Public Radio

Brian Burns
Brian Burns graduated from UNC's School of Information and Library Science in 2015 and is currently working as WUNC's Music Librarian.