A Light for Attracting Attention, The Smile (5/10)

I've seen a lot of hype for this album recently, with Pitchfork naming it best new rock album and a few of my friends sending me songs from it, so I was pretty excited to listen to it. Tbh, I'm a bit disappointed. I think it's pretty obvious that the Smile is really talented, but for some reason I just wasn't super excited about any of the songs. Like while I liked a few of the songs a fair amount, I probably wouldn't give any of them a 10/10 and, while all of the songs are very sonically complex, I honestly got a bit bored listening to the album. I can definitely see why a lot of music ppl like it -- but wasn't really vibing with the album for my personal taste. If I had to describe it, I would say it's somewhere btwn Radiohead, King Gizzard, and Black Country, New Road -- and I guess it makes sense cuz Radiohead and BCNR are bands I think are objectively good but that for some reason I just don't really like. Well okay I actually just found out that Thom Yorke (of radiohead) is the lead singer of The Smile (for some reason his voice just triggers me lol), so now everything I just said makes a lot more sense lmfao. anyways.. i guess if you like radiohead, you'll probably like this more upbeat alt rock/slow psych rock vibe. Okay this is a bit harsh also - there were a few tracks I liked decently. Favorite tracks: Speech Bubbles, Open the Floodgates, Free In The Knowledge