More prolific than their now rarely sighted mothership band Radiohead, Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood's new trio project with drummer Tom Skinner are back, releasing their second album in just over 18 months with minimal advance fanfare.
Wall Of Eyes is full of virtuosic style-hopping, from the title track's alluringly wonky avant-samba groove to the super-nimble math-rock gyrations of Under Our Pillow.
A couple of makeweight Kraut-leaning numbers fall short of greatness, but the standouts here rank alongside Radiohead's best, their alluring aura of late-Beatles psych-pop underscored by a handful of orchestral arrangements.
One is the gorgeous, tumbling, melancholy Friend Of A Friend, a classic slice of Yorke-ish misanthropy couched in warm brassy ambience. Another is mesmerising former single Bending Hectic, a dreamlike ballad that freeze-frames on a vintage sports car hurtling towards a deadly Alpine precipice; imagine The Italian Job remade by David Lynch. Quality workmanship.
