Lauren Laverne: 6 Music Festival presents The Smile. They are performing exclusively with the London Contemporary Orchestra. Opening for them are Jockstrap. We've also got a unique hybrid performance from Mary Anne Hobbs and Anna Phoebe.

Absolutely delighted to have The Smile on the bill for 2024. As I told them when we caught up...

Lauren Laverne: Well, guys, welcome. We're absolutely delighted that you're going to be playing the 6 Music Festival this year. You're going to be our Saturday headliners, which is so exciting for us. Thank you very much for saying yes.

It's an exciting time for The Smile as well because the second album is on its way. How does this moment feel for you?

Thom Yorke: We've got a lot of work to do, especially with the 6 Music t, because we've decided to work with the London Contemporary Orchestra on that. It's one thing to do all that stuff in the studio; it's another thing to do it live.

Lauren Laverne: Exactly. Scores, violins to wrangle, and all that kind of business. So these string arrangements that appear on the album are performed by the London Contemporary Orchestra. Tell us about working together and why you wanted to approach this new album in that way.

Jonny Greenwood: Well, we've got a habit of working with them, haven't we? Especially you, James.

They've just been feeding our confidence over the last few years in terms of working with strings. Hugh Brunt, the conductor, is someone you can basically throw anything at. I discovered that recently while doing a soundtrack with him. He's not fazed by anything.

I think that's why we've developed such a great relationship with them, really.

Lauren Laverne: That's an interesting idea because, from an outside perspective, as someone who doesn't know classical music quite so intimately, you wouldn't necessarily think of that relationship with a conductor as being so spontaneous. But it clearly is.

Jonny Greenwood: I think it's very important because he has to be able to translate whatever nonsense we're speaking into something that will actually work with the orchestra itself.

They're all incredibly versatile musicians, so it really suits us. It has done for quite a while.

Lauren Laverne: Obviously The Smile is a project that came about in 2020 and really developed during lockdown. I wonder what the original plan was, and how it's evolved. It seems to have taken on a life of its own—two albums in already.

Thom Yorke: I think we're just enjoying writing music and playing. It really is as simple as that.

Ed was off making another solo record, and we just wanted to carry on making music.

Lauren Laverne: When it came to Wall of Eyes, how did you approach writing and recording together?

Jonny Greenwood: Some of the songs we'd already been playing live, so we'd been developing them on the road. Others happened quite organically in the studio.

Interestingly, the songs we'd already been performing often turned out to be the trickiest ones to finish.

Thom Yorke: Jonny and Tom are especially quick. I'm not.

We'd have an idea and suddenly it'd be off the ground within half an hour. We got into the habit of saying, "Take three? That's it. Move on," rather than spending hours trying to work everything out.

We've done a lot of it here at Jonny's studio—which is where we are now—and, like Jonny said, we just want to keep working. We can't really see any reason not to.

Jonny Greenwood: I think when we did the Live at Worthy Farm film—that was during the year Glastonbury was cancelled—we'd never played a concert together. We basically went straight from the studio into that performance.

We had absolutely no idea where it was going to go after that.

I think the reaction to the first record surprised us.

When we went out on tour we'd only made one album, and after about forty-five minutes you suddenly realise you've played all your songs, so you have to start writing new material.

Lauren Laverne: It's interesting because you began with that filmed performance at Worthy Farm, and now, around this new album, you've got a major European tour, sold-out UK headline shows, the 6 Music Festival appearance, and these film events in collaboration with Paul Thomas Anderson. All of those different elements are still part of the project.

Jonny Greenwood: The film's pretty easy because it's mostly showing things we've already done. It's really just a quick retrospective—an excuse to have an event when the record comes out.

As for the shows... I'm really trying not to think about them because there's no point. We'll figure it out when we get there.

Lauren Laverne: I'm feeling really inarticulate because I'm so used to your voices coming out of a speaker as a one-way thing. I've never actually spoken to you before, and suddenly you're talking back. It's like the beginning of some psychosis where the radio starts talking to you.

Thom Yorke: (laughs)

Lauren Laverne: No, it's a good thing. It's a two-way conversation and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. Thank you very much for listening.

In terms of these upcoming shows, I know Thom doesn't want to think about them too much yet, but as you're beginning to pull everything together after working with the orchestra on the new album, what kind of atmosphere are you hoping to create?

Jonny Greenwood: We just have to work out how to reproduce what we recorded. It's really that simple.

Between the three of us we've got six hands and... a couple of feet.

Thom Yorke: I don't use my feet.

Jonny Greenwood: Well, you use yours, actually.

So we've got six hands and three feet.

Thom Yorke: Things are looking up already.

Jonny Greenwood: Which is still a lot fewer than what's on the record.

We've also got the marvellous Robert Stillman, who's playing saxophone and clarinet, and singing bits and pieces as well.

Other than that, honestly, we'll just figure it out. It'll be fine.

Thom Yorke: There's a lot of counting involved—especially at my end. My hands are doing one thing, my voice is doing another, and the drums are doing something else entirely.

It's not prog, though. I promise.

Lauren Laverne: As long as it's you, we're into it. We're absolutely thrilled that you're going to be headlining the 6 Music Festival.

Thank you so much for talking to us. Thom, Jonny—lovely to speak to you.

Thom Yorke & Jonny Greenwood: Likewise. Take care.

Lauren Laverne: Thanks very much.