The Smile - "Pana-vision"

Four months into 2022 and The Smile have shared their fourth single as a group. Here's the piano-driven "Pana-vision."

So far, our expectations for The Smile are being met with illustrious results. We've had the '90s rocking "You Will Never Work in Television Again," the skittering "The Smoke," and the unraveling "Skrting On the Surface." Today, we've been delivered the jazzy piano number "Pana-vision." This one also feels like a Radiohead song, although it goes down the path of their more recent work and not so much that of the alt-rock bangers many may still be holding out for. "Pana-vision" feels like the work of modern Thom Yorke and his work on the wonderful Anima. The song unfurls at a gentle pace, Yorke's vocals over eerie piano before a more grounded rhythms section pulls things into focus. Greenwood's sinister strings add lush textures and horns puncture the tune ever so slightly. Gradually, the song begins to expand and rock impulses become more apparent with Tom Skinner doing a marvelous job to keep the song from floating away entirely. The song premiered on the most recent episode of Peaky Blinders (the episode also featured a lovely new solo song from Thom as well), but there is still no word on the official release date or even the name of the album. Recently, Thom and Jonny were guests on the podcast Smartless and mentioned that the album was being held up do to titles and artwork not being entirely done, the first time that has caused any of their work to be delayed, but that it would be coming soon. For now, we have these melodic tunes to hold ourselves over as we imagine what else will make the final album cut.