Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke and guitar anti-hero Jonny Greenwood formed The Smile, a new three-part project with Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner, and made their debut at Glastonbury’s. Live at Worthy Farm streaming event this weekend.

In typically cryptic Radiohead fashion, the band’s existence was announced just hours before the live broadcast, which revealed the band were playing an eight-song set. You can watch pictures of the new song Thin Thing below.

Led by a finger-sorted – bordering on noise – Greenwood riff (with a little slapback delay for good measure), the track is reminiscent of Radiohead‘s darker forays into guitar-driven progressive alternative rock.

Greenwood dons a Gibson Les Paul Goldtop – rarely seen at Radiohead, but previously used for Steve Reich performances Electric counterpoint – for performance, while Yorke showcases his impressive fingerstyle technique on a Fender Mustang Bass.

A two-minute excerpt from another track, We don’t know what tomorrow has in store, finds Greenwood on bass, while Yorke taps into an array of synths before tackling a Gibson SG for biting high-string riffs.

There is no word on the follow-up to the project – which would also involve longtime Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich – although judging from the weekend’s filming, there is already enough material for one. full album.

Yorke and Greenwood have been mainly involved in their respective soundtrack efforts since the 2016 release of Radiohead’s latest album, A moon shaped swimming pool, while fellow guitarist Ed O’Brien released his first solo record as EOB in 2020.