Photo by Frank Labon

“I can go anywhere that I want / Just got to turn myself inside out / Front to back,” Thom Yorke winces into view during the opening moments of “Friend of a Friend”, the latest preview from the Smile’s sophomore effort, Wall of Eye. Understated yet radically so, the listen begins almost too organized and obvious (at least, as much as can be given its creators) but that proves Yorke’s self-prophecy true, as it’s pulled into corners by strings from the London Contemporary Orchestra and saxophone by Robert Stillman as well as ambient energy shifts. “I guess I believe in an altered state / Where they leave their windows and their doors open wide.” Anything that allows his unassuming self to shape-shift when it’s least expected…

Directed by: Paul Thomas Anderson

The Smile’s Wall of Eyes will be released January 26th on XL Recordings.