The Smile are back with another new song from Wall of Eyes, their forthcoming sophomore album due out January 26 via XL. It’s called “Friend of a Friend” and features strings from the London Contemporary Orchestra and saxophone by Robert Stillman. Listen to it below.
The Smile have also announced Wall of Eyes, on Film, a series of one-off events hosted at independent movie theaters around the world. It takes place from January 18 to 25. The screenings will feature a new music video for “Friend of a Friend,” directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, as well as a “surround sound album playback” of Wall of Eyes, never-before-seen footage of the album’s recording sessions, and a program that revisits Anderson’s directorial collaborations with Thom Yorke and Radiohead, namely the Anima short film and music videos for “Daydreaming,” “Present Tense,” and “The Numbers.” See the dates below.
Wall of Eyes was recorded between Oxford and Abbey Road Studios and was produced and mixed by Sam Petts-Davies. “Friend of a Friend” is the third pre-release single, after “Bending Hectic” and the title track.
While the follow-up to A Light for Attracting Attention is the Smile’s second studio LP, it’s the third project they’ve so far released; at the end of 2022, the Smile dropped a live album recorded at their Montreux Jazz Festival set.
Read about “Bending Hectic” at No. 53 in Pitchfork’s list of “The 100 Best Songs of 2023.”
Wall of Eyes, on Film:
01-18 London, England - The Prince Charles Cinema #
01-18 New York, NY - The Village East #
01-19 Los Angeles, CA - Brain Dead Studios #
01-20 Seoul, South Korea - SangSang Madang Cinema
01-20 Milan, Italy - Cinema Godard - Fondazione Prada #
01-20 Mexico City, Mexico - Cine Tonalá
01-22 Tokyo, Japan - 190 Cinemas Premium Shinjuku #
01-22 Paris, France - MK2 Quai de Loire #
01-23 Sydney, Australia - Golden Age Cinema
01-23 Amsterdam, The Netherlands - Eye Filmuseum #
01-23 Glasgow, Scotland - Glasgow Film Theatre #
01-25 Tokyo, Japan - 190 Cinemas Premium Shinjuku #
01-25 Berlin, Germany - Kino Intimes
# presented on 35mm
