Watch The Smile Debut The Kickass New Song “Bending Hectic” At Montreux Jazz Festival
The members of the Smile haven’t gotten bored with their new project yet. Last year, Radiohead bandmates Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood unveiled the existence of their new side-project trio the Smile. A couple of months ago, the Smile released their debut album A Light For Attracting Attention, which sounded more like ’90s Radiohead than anything that Radiohead have done in the past 20 years. Later this year, the Smile will head out on their first North American tour. As it turns out, they’re not done writing new songs.
Last night, the Smile played at Switzerland’s storied Montreux Jazz Festival. During their set, the band debuted a brand new song called “Bending Hectic.” While introducing the track, Thom Yorke said that the audience wouldn’t know the words “because I just wrote them.” The song itself is a long, sprawling number. It starts out as a swirling, expansive jam before picking up steam and transforming into a big rocker with some serious Johnny Greenwood guitar-hero theatrics.
We have no idea when or even if the Smile will release “Bending Hectic,” and we don’t know if the theoretical studio version of this song will sound anything like the live take. As of right now, though, “Bending Hectic” is a pretty sick song. Watch a fan-made live video below.
That’s not even the only new song that the Smile have debuted onstage recently. Since the start of their European tour, the Smile have also been playing a tingly new track called “Colours Fly.” They recently shared a video them playing the song at last month’s Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona. Here it is: