Skrting on the Surface
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2022}}
{{Short description|2022 single by the Smile}}
{{Infobox song
| name = Skrting on the Surface
| cover = Skrting.png
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = the Smile
| album = A Light for Attracting Attention
| released = 17 March 2022
| recorded =
| studio =
| venue =
| genre = Alternative rock
| length = 5:31
| label = XL
| composer =
| writer = {{hlist|Jonny Greenwood|Nigel Godrich|Thom Yorke|Tom Skinner}}
| producer = Nigel Godrich
| prev_title = The Smoke
| prev_year = 2022
| next_title = Pana-vision
| next_year = 2022
| misc = {{External music video|{{YouTube|_nmutqhuWFE|"Skrting on the Surface"}}}}
}}
"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.
"Skrting on the Surface" features guitar arpeggios in the time signature Undecuple meter. The singer, Thom Yorke, and the guitarist, Jonny Greenwood, developed it from an earlier unreleased song by their band Radiohead.
History
Variations on the title phrase appeared on the Radiohead website around the time of their album OK Computer (1997). The Radiohead singer, Thom Yorke, first performed "Skrting on the Surface" in 2009 in a solo piano rendition while touring with his band Atoms for Peace.{{Cite web |last=Young |first=Alex| title=Hear 12 potential songs for Radiohead's new album |url=http://consequenceofsound.net/2014/07/hear-12-potential-songs-for-radioheads-new-album/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160502034826/http://consequenceofsound.net/2014/07/hear-12-potential-songs-for-radioheads-new-album/ |archive-date=2 May 2016 |access-date=4 May 2016 |website=Consequence of Sound|date=21 July 2014 }} In 2012, Radiohead performed a different arrangement, which Pitchfork described as "a bleak slow-groover".{{Cite web |author1-link=Marc Hogan |last=Hogan |first=Marc |date=4 March 2016 |title=19 unreleased Radiohead songs that could be on their next album |url=http://pitchfork.com/thepitch/1044-19-unreleased-radiohead-songs-that-could-be-on-their-next-album/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160402041732/http://pitchfork.com/thepitch/1044-19-unreleased-radiohead-songs-that-could-be-on-their-next-album/ |archive-date=2 April 2016 |access-date=4 April 2016 |website=Pitchfork}}
In 2021, Yorke and the Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood announced a new band, the Smile, with the drummer Tom Skinner.{{Cite news |last=Savage |first=Mark |date=2021-05-22 |title=The Smile: Radiohead stars to debut new band at Glastonbury live-stream |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-57204594 |access-date=2021-05-23}} Skinner said "Skrting on the Surface" was one of the first songs they worked on, and developed from Greenwood's Undecuple meter guitar line. Yorke realised that the earlier song "fit perfectly on top". Skinner recorded his drums in a single take, creating an "air of spontaneity". The song was recorded by Radiohead's producer, Nigel Godrich, in his studio in London.{{cite podcast |url=https://www.npr.org/2022/03/21/1087852135/new-mix-arcade-fire-valerie-june-the-smile-andrew-bird-more |title=New mix: Arcade Fire, Valerie June, the Smile, Andrew Bird, more |website=All Songs Considered |publisher=NPR |host= |date=22 March 2022 |time=19:37 |access-date=22 March 2022 |last=Boilen |first=Bob}}
The Smile debuted "Skrting on the Surface", then titled "Skating on the Surface", in a surprise performance for Live at Worthy Farm, a live video produced by Glastonbury Festival streamed on 22 May, 2021.{{Cite magazine |last=Kreps |first=Daniel |date=2021-05-23 |title=See Radiohead side project the Smile perform new song 'We Don't Know What Tomorrow Brings' |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/radiohead-side-project-the-smile-perform-new-song-1173508/ |access-date=2022-03-21 |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}} The single was released on 17 March, 2022.{{cite web |last1=Brodsky |first1=Rachel |date=17 March 2022 |title=The Smile – "Skrting On The Surface" |url=https://www.stereogum.com/2179755/the-smile-skrting-on-the-surface/music/ |access-date=19 March 2022 |website=Stereogum}}
Music video
The video for "Skrting on the Surface" was directed by Mark Jenkin, who also directed the video for the Smile's previous single, "The Smoke".{{cite web |last1=Darville |first1=Jordan |date=17 March 2022 |title=The Smile share new song/video 'Skrting On The Surface' |url=https://www.thefader.com/2022/03/17/the-smile-skrting-on-the-surface |access-date=19 March 2022 |website=The Fader}}{{cite web |last1=Childers |first1=Chad |title=Thom Yorke + Jonny Greenwood Reveal The Smile's Second Single 'The Smoke' |url=https://loudwire.com/the-smile-the-smoke-video/ |website=Loudwire |access-date=19 March 2022 |date=27 January 2022}} It was shot on 16 mm film in the Rosevale Tin Mine in Cornwall, England. Water from the mine was used to develop the film by hand.{{cite magazine |last1=Kreps |first1=Daniel |date=17 March 2022 |title=The Smile unearth unreleased Radiohead gem 'Skrting on the Surface' for new single |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/the-smile-skrting-on-the-surface-new-song-1322464/ |access-date=19 March 2022 |magazine=Rolling Stone}} The video was filmed during Storm Eunice and Storm Franklin; the crew were unaware of the damage done by the storm while they worked underground.{{Cite web |last=Edwards |first=Danny |date=18 March 2022 |title=Mark Jenkin mines promo gold for Thom Yorke |url=https://www.shots.net/news/view/mark-jenkin-mines-promo-gold-for-thom-yorke |access-date=2022-03-21 |website=Shots |language=en}}
Reception
The Fader journalist Jordan Darville called the song "an unabashed channeling of what has made Greenwood and Yorke's creative partnership so successful over the course of many decades". The Rolling Stone journalist Daniel Kreps said Skinner's drumming and Greenwood's arpeggios gave the song "a technicolour makeover" in comparison to the earlier versions.
Track listing
The song, on specific streaming services and digital storefronts, also contains the Smile's two previously released singles.
{{track listing
| title1 = Skrting on the Surface
| length1 = 5:31
| title2 = The Smoke
| length2 = 3:39
| title3 = You Will Never Work in Television Again
| length3 = 2:48
}}
Personnel
Credits adapted from album liner notes.{{Cite AV media notes|title=A Light for Attracting Attention|others=The Smile|year=2022|type=liner notes|publisher=XL Recordings|id=FXL1196LP|location=London, England}}
The Smile
- Thom Yorke — vocals, bass
- Jonny Greenwood — guitar, bass
- Tom Skinner — drums
Production
Additional musicians
- London Contemporary Orchestra
- Hugh Brunt – orchestration
- Eloisa-Fleur Thom – violin
- Alessandro Ruisi – violin
- Zara Benyounes – violin
- Sophie Mather – violin
- Agata Daraskaite – violin
- Charlotte Bonneton – violin
- Zoe Matthews – viola
- Clifton Harrison – viola
- Oliver Coates – cello
- Max Ruisi – cello
- Clare O’Connell – cello
- Jason Yarde – saxophone
- Robert Stillman – saxophone
- Chelsea Carmichael – flute
- Nathaniel Cross – trombone
- Byron Wallen – trumpet
- Theon Cross – tuba
- Tom Herbert – double bass
- Dave Brown – double bass