Back in May, Radiohead offshoot The Smile -- Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, and Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner, in collaboration with producer Nigel Godrich -- announced their existence by appearing on the Glastonbury livestream festival back in May, playing an eight-song set. The Smile went quiet after that but Stereogum notes they popped up again today via their Instagram stories, streaming rehearsals at four different intervals. If you missed it, Radiohead's devoted fanbase recorded them and put them on YouTube, and you can watch below.
Nigel Godrich revealed this summer that The Smile have recorded an album and it's "not a rock record," but these songs and others they played on the Glastonbury livestream are not not rock songs, either. As we wrote at the time, it's "not that different than Radiohead, but leaner, more stripped down, mainly just guitar, bass, drums and Fender Rhodes." No word on when that album is coming out, or if The Smile plan to tour, but this reemergence could mean we'll know something sooner than later.