I knew it would only be a matter of time before the Smile went through their Kid A phase, but I had no idea it would be so soon. I was expecting one or two more albums or EPs of jittery atmospheric post-punk before ol' Thom and Jonny busted out the modular synthesizer and contemporary orchestral soundscapes.
The two have both been on a film score kick for a decade — Yorke with the Suspiria remake and Confidenza, while Greenwood has worked on basically everything Paul Thomas Anderson touches — so it makes sense that Cutouts, in all its orchestral glory, feels like a bunch of random OST pieces.
Because of this orchestral focus, we don't hear much from Tom Skinner until the third track "Zero Sum," which sounds like the ugly aunt of "Thin Thing." This under-utilization of Skinner feels like a misstep — an absolute genius on the kit, he historically holds down the madness both Yorke and Greenwood produce. On Cutouts, he's neglected; Skinner could really unleash on a track like the desert-tinged "Colours Fly," if only he was given the space to do so.
Greenwood also loves his complex guitar tapping, but anyone who's followed the Smile's work thus far will know he's overdoing it at this point. Case in point: "Eyes & Mouth," which is only a four-minute song but feels much longer as the guitar riff goes on and on and on. "The Slip" also falls into this trap about halfway through the song, so at least we have some variety in the Moog groove and Skinner's expert crash and snares.
At times, Yorke's lyrics on Cutouts also feel a bit half-baked. He sounds gorgeous, like falsettos for drunken angels, but many of the lyrics are repetitive without any real climax. I'm all for slow, sad songs with soul-crushing lyrics, but maybe I expect more variety from a guy who wrote "A Punch Up at a Wedding."
It's hard not to feel like we're getting too much Smile. I wish they didn't fall into the trend of releasing an album every one to two years, and instead let us sit and wait while they cooked. Remember the wait for A Moon Shaped Pool after King of Limbs? That was five years. Different band, I know, but sometimes you wanna miss your faves just a bit. On the band's third LP in just over two years and their second in eight months, I'm a bit tired of the under-edited collections of songs.
The songs on Cutouts feel jammy and jazzy, and while the trio are of course experts at their craft, the instrumentation tends to meander. This loose jamminess really worked with A Light for Attracting Attention because its release was such a surprise treat, and the album felt fully realized as a frenetic piece of art rock — something every Radiohead fan had been waiting for since A Moon Shaped Pool. While diehards may be thrilled by the Smile's consistent clip, a little distance might make the heart grow fonder.