The Smile

There are plenty of reasons to find yourself at Medimex in Taranto. Following a now well-established and much-referenced tradition, music takes center stage here within a setting that showcases the local area, adding extra meaning to the artists' performances. Here, on the Taranto seafront roundabout, amid panels, talks, dj-sets and showcases dedicated to the lively local scene, we've seen legendary musicians perform in a state of special grace over the years: from Nick Cave to Chemical Brothers, from Skunk Anansie to Patti Smith, by way of Placebo, Kraftwerk, and Tom Morello. In short, more than enough to buck the sorry trend that sees southern Italy routinely left off the itineraries of the biggest international tours. In this year's edition of Medimex, further enriched by heavyweight names such as Pulp and Jesus & Mary Chain, one presence stood out above all: the project The Smile, in which Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead) and Tom Skinner (Sons Of Kemet) were joined by Robert Stillman, the talented American horn player and multi-instrumentalist based in Kent, who proved hugely valuable to the set. Stillman, whose discography is a fascinating diorama well worth exploring, opened the show with a set that was cut short in terms of time but still potentially evocative, while on other dates the same supporting role was filled by electronic music guru James Holden.

This date opened the band's Italian leg (this show plus two performances at Rome's Auditorium Cavea), bringing the first part of their hugely acclaimed European tour to a close. Things pick back up on August 8th at the Way Out West Festival in Gothenburg, followed by various stops across north-western and central Europe and a final leg taking in France, Spain and Portugal. Virtually every date is sold out. The show, a truly beautiful one, offered a sound markedly different both from the alchemy of the studio recordings and from the stripped-down approach that had characterized the live promotion of the first album. However out of place the notion might seem when applied to the project's richly layered creative universe, this performance moved with a real sense of lightness.

Yorke's vocals remain the same captivating weave of abstract melancholy we know so well, and the melodies still probe that familiar, tormented introspection. This time, though, the music rides on the flying carpet of Skinner's fast, airy drumming, which breaks things apart, adds color and converses with the rest of the band, alternating sticks, hands and mallets, asserting himself in ways that serve the whole. Greenwood comes across as a playful, imaginative tightrope walker, happy to indulge in a bit of self-deprecation and even a touch of showmanship, playing piano with one hand and harp with the other, or Fender and Moog pedals simultaneously. Stillman, meanwhile, is a genuine revelation. He moves between horns, keyboards, accordion and acoustic guitar, completely at ease interacting with the three regular members, both in the written parts and during the numerous improvised passages.

The quartet is so tightly knit, and the whirl of them swapping positions so dizzying and gleeful, that between that and the strobe-heavy light show straight out of the Radiohead playbook, the viewer is often swept away, no longer bothering to work out who's playing what.

The result is a fascinating melting pot bringing together Thom Yorke's cinematic songwriting, the arty tribalism of Sons Of Kemet, and Greenwood's love of jazz. And then there's all the common ground shared by the musicians on stage, despite the differing paths of their respective careers: electronic music, minimalism, post-rock, progressive, film scores, psychedelia and, not least, good old wave. A useful reference point for grasping the sonic magma unleashed on stage might be the EP "Europe: Live Recordings 2022", released by XL in 2023, but it's precisely by comparing it with those recordings that the scale of Stillman's contribution becomes clear — present but understated on the first album, and entirely absent on the second. His horns and keyboard pads give body to the sound, over which Yorke's bass virtuosity interlocks with the other two frontmen's percussive and guitar inventions.

The first album is well represented, with "The Opposite," "Speech Bubbles," "A Hairdryer" (among the most intense moments of the set), a magnificent version of "Skirting On The Surface," then "Thin Thing," "Panavision" and "The Smoke" — never sounding better — "We Don't Know What Tomorrow Brings" and "The Same," which brings the main set to a triumphant close before the ritual encore.

The second album was played in full, with the sole exception of "I Quit," which has featured in the setlist on other tour dates. There's room, however, for "Feelingpulledapartbyhorses," which has grown remarkably since the live EP days (no studio recording has been released), as well as for the previously unheard "Instant Psalm," "Zero Sum" and "Don't Get Me Started," which, with its odd-time Moog intro and Thom Yorke's shamanic dancing, is already among the fans' favorite moments.

Closing out the encore is the now-classic "You Know Me!", which brings us back to the setlist of the latest album while also leaving us with the clear impression of a band that still has plenty of pages of research and creativity left to write in rock history.

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