10 Best Rock Album Closers Of The 2020s (So Far)

3. Skrting On The Surface - The Smile (A Light For Attracting Attention)

As if being in Radiohead, one of the biggest bands on the planet, wasn't enough, members Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood decided to start a new project called The Smile in 2020.

How do they find the time to eat? Or breathe?

Backed by Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner, The Smile have just one studio album to their name thus far, and it's a pretty darn good one. A Light for Attracting Attention came out in mid-2022, following the band's surprise debut at the virtual 2021 Glastonbury festival.

Produced by Nigel Godrich, this album was met with some serious applause, as many critics rushed to call it the best Radiohead side project to date.

Is it really a side project if it features two members and their long-time producer? Suppose that's irrelevant.

The final track is called Skrting on the Surface, and no, that's not a typo. A lush, film score-style pseudo-jazz piece, the track glides along like a skater on ice, carried by the heavenly falsetto of Mr. Yorke.

A cinematic ending that would have fit right in on any classic Radiohead album, with songs like this, these Smile lads might just make something of themselves after all.

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Jacob Simmons has a great many passions, including rock music, giving acclaimed films three-and-a-half stars, watching random clips from The Simpsons on YouTube at 3am, and writing about himself in the third person.