The latest project from Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood launched to live and online audiences at Magazine London in January 2022. The band played three concerts in less than 24 hours at the custom-built venue, in a feat of hybrid production supported by a pioneering livestream.
Comprising Yorke and Greenwood alongside jazz drummer Tom Skinner from Sons of Kemet, The Smile take their name from a Ted Hughes poem, which itself recalls the twinkling melancholy of early Radiohead.
The performances at Magazine London were designed to give equal weight to physical and online audiences. For an album written during, and often in reference to, the UK’s successive lockdowns, the inclusion of a live stream seemed like a particularly appropriate approach to their first in-person event.
The film was produced by the director Paul Dugdale, who worked with the UK-based live streaming company Driift to capture the virtuosity and energy of the three musicians. The multi-camera feed was filmed using ultrawide and fisheye lenses carefully placed to avoid blocking the audience’s view, with the occasional appearance of a Steadicam, weaving around and within the stage architecture.
