The Smile share debut single ‘You Will Never Work In Television Again’

The Smile – the side project of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood – have released their debut single, ‘You Will Never Work In Television Again’. You can listen to it below.

The trio, completed by Sons Of Kemet’s Tom Skinner, previewed the track during their show on Glastonbury’s ‘Live At Worthy Farm’ broadcast last May. It also marked the debut performance for the group overall.

Arriving today (January 5), The Smile‘s first official track was produced by longtime Radiohead collaborator Nigel Godrich.

‘You Will Never Work In Television Again’ opens with ambient distortion before erupting into a raw, punk-injected instrumental. “Fear not my love/ He’s fat fucking mist/ Young bones spat out/ Girls slitting their wrists/ Curtain calling for a kiss/ From a nursery rhyme,” Yorke sings in the first verse.

Check out the Duncan Loudon-directed lyric video below.

The Smile are set to play three shows across two nights at Magazine London later this month (January 29/30). According to a press release, the band will perform to a seated audience in the round.

“The performances bring together a live show, a livestream and a cinematic film, captured by award-winning director, Paul Dugdale (The Rolling Stones, Adele, Paul McCartney) and produced by Driift,” it adds.

Both physical and livestream tickets go on general sale this Friday (January 7) at 9am GMT. Fans can access a pre-sale by signing up to a mailing list here.

Those who opt to tune in from home can do so via the following time slots:

January 29 

Show 1: 8pm GMT

January 30 

Show 2: 1am GMT
Show 3 11am GMT

Meanwhile, Thom Yorke recently played a new song from The Smile called ‘Free in the Knowledge’ during a solo show at London’s Royal Albert Hall. It came after the trio surprised fans with a rehearsal livestream early last month.

According to NME, The Smile have been at work on a debut studio album.

“The Smile came about from just wanting to work on music with Thom in lockdown,” Greenwood revealed in an interview with the outlet last September.

“We didn’t have much time, but we just wanted to finish some songs together. It’s been very stop-start, but it’s felt a happy way to make music.”

In other news, Jonny Greenwood has contributed a new instrumental title track to Paul Thomas Anderson’s new film ‘Licorice Pizza’.