"Thin Thing" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by the Smile | ||||
from the album A Light for Attracting Attention | ||||
Released | 9 May 2022 | |||
Genre | Art Rock | |||
Length | 4:30 | |||
Label | XL Recordings | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | Nigel Godrich | |||
The Smile singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Music video | ||||
"Thin Thing" on YouTube |
"Thin Thing" is a song by English rock band The Smile. It is the 7th song and 6th single on their first album A Light for Attracting Attention, and was released on 9 May 2022. [1]
The track is accompanied by a stop-motion animation video directed by Cristobal Leon and Joaquín Cocina. The video took six months to complete. It features vintage technology being destroyed by an unseen force, severed arms crawling across the ground and the disembodied heads of Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood and Tom Skinner doubling as the tops of barren trees. [2]
The directors of the video stated "Hearing the song for the first time, we imagined a frenetic fluid that carries machines, pieces of human bodies and carnivorous plants," León and Cociña write. "When presenting the idea to the band, Thom told us about a dream that made him write the song. We believe the video is the conjunction of these two things." [3]
Abby Jones of Consequence of Sound writes "To put it in Radioheadish language: 'Thin Thing' calls to mind the sprawling, entrancing art-rock of their Kid A or Hail to the Thief eras, building upon restless percussion in a barely-detectable time signature. As are most good Yorke songs, the lyrics to 'Thin Thing' are equally anxious and amorphous: 'First she’ll pull your fingers off/ And then she’ll pull your toes/ And then she’ll steal the photos from your phone,' he sings, as the rhythm section gradually builds into a jazzy climax." [4]
Credits adapted from album liner notes. [5]
Production
Additional musicians
Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. They comprise Thom Yorke ; brothers Jonny Greenwood and Colin Greenwood (bass); Ed O'Brien ; and Philip Selway. They have worked with the producer Nigel Godrich and the cover artist Stanley Donwood since 1994. Radiohead's experimental approach is credited with advancing the sound of alternative rock.
Jonathan Richard Guy Greenwood is an English musician. He is the lead guitarist and keyboardist of the rock band Radiohead, and has composed numerous film scores. He has been named one of the greatest guitarists by numerous publications, including Rolling Stone.
Thomas Edward Yorke is an English musician who is the main vocalist and songwriter of the rock bands Radiohead and The Smile. He plays guitar, bass, keyboards and other instruments, and is noted for his falsetto. Rolling Stone described Yorke as one of the greatest and most influential singers of his generation.
"Creep" is the debut single by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 21 September 1992 by EMI. It was included as the second track of Radiohead's debut album, Pablo Honey (1993). It features "blasts" of guitar noise by Jonny Greenwood and lyrics describing an obsessive unrequited attraction.
"Fake Plastic Trees" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released on their second album, The Bends (1995). It was the third single from The Bends in the UK, and the first in the US. It reached the top 50 on the UK Singles Chart, the New Zealand Singles Chart, the US Modern Rock Tracks chart and the Canadian Rock/Alternative chart.
"Pyramid Song" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released as the lead single from their fifth studio album, Amnesiac (2001), in May 2001. It features piano, strings, an unusual "shuffling" rhythm and lyrics inspired by the Egyptian underworld and ideas of cyclical time.
"There There" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead. It was released as the lead single from their sixth album, Hail to the Thief (2003), on 21 May 2003. It reached number four on the UK Singles Chart, number one in Canada and Portugal, and number 14 on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. The song appears on Radiohead: The Best Of (2008).
"The Bends" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead from their second studio album, The Bends (1995). In Ireland, it was released by Parlophone on 26 July 1996 as the album's sixth and final single, and reached number 26 on the Irish Singles Chart.
"All I Need" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, produced by Nigel Godrich. It was released as a promotional single on 5 January 2009, from their seventh studio album, In Rainbows (2007). "All I Need" is a downbeat track with lyrics about obsession and unrequited love.
Tom Skinner is an English drummer, percussionist and record producer. He co-founded the jazz band Sons of Kemet and the rock band the Smile. He has released two albums under the name Hello Skinny. His first album under his own name, Voices of Bishara, was released in November 2022.
The Smile are an English rock band comprising the Radiohead members Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood with Tom Skinner (drums). Critics likened them to Radiohead, with more jazz, krautrock and progressive rock influences and a looser, wilder sound.
"You Will Never Work in Television Again" is a song by the English rock band the Smile. It was released on 5 January 2022 as the debut single from their debut album, A Light for Attracting Attention. The Smile first performed it in the 2021 Glastonbury livestream Live at Worthy Farm.
"Skrting on the Surface" is a song by the English rock band the Smile. It was released on 17 March, 2022, as the third single from the Smile's debut album, A Light for Attracting Attention.
"The Smoke" is a song by the English rock band the Smile. It was released on 27 January 2022 as the second single from their debut album, A Light for Attracting Attention.
"Pana-vision" is the fourth single by the English rock band the Smile, released on 3 April 2022. It is included on their debut album, A Light for Attracting Attention.
A Light for Attracting Attention is the debut studio album by the English rock band the Smile. It was released digitally through XL Recordings on 13 May 2022, with a retail release on 17 June.
"Free in the Knowledge" is a song by the English rock band the Smile. It was released on 20 March 2022 as the third single from the Smile's debut album, A Light for Attracting Attention, by XL Recordings.
Wall of Eyes is the second studio album by the English rock band the Smile, released on 26 January 2024 through XL Recordings. It was recorded in Oxford and Abbey Road Studios, London, with the producer Sam Petts-Davies.
"Friend of a Friend" is a song by the English rock band the Smile, released on 9 January 2024 by XL Recordings. It was the third single released from the Smile's second album, Wall of Eyes. The music video was directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.
Cutouts is the third studio album by the English rock band the Smile, released on 4 October 2024 through XL Recordings. It was produced by Sam Petts-Davies and recorded in Oxford and Abbey Road Studios, London, in the same sessions as the previous Smile album, Wall of Eyes (2024).
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