Seven months after the release of their newest album, Wall Of Eyes, art-rock band The Smile return with a new single, “Don’t Get Me Started.” The synth-heavy, propulsive new song is accompanied by a psychedelic video produced by Weirdcore. In keeping with the digital theming of the song itself, the video is driven by glitchy, ’80s-style computer graphics that appear to track a cyberpunk-inspired chase sequence through a portentous cityscape. The surreal visuals don’t exactly tell a story, giving things a sort of AI-generated quality (if you’ve ever seen attempts at full-AI short visual narratives, you can tell the computers haven’t quite figured out rising action, let alone a consistent visual style).
“Don’t Get Me Started” is part of a double single, released along with “The Slip” as an extremely limited edition 12″. You can only get “The Slip” with the record, as it has not been made available for streaming. The songs were released coinciding with the group canceling their European tour as multi-instrumentalist Jonny Greenwood was diagnosed with a serious infection.
“A few days ago, Jonny became seriously ill from an infection that needed emergency hospital treatment, some of it in intensive care,” they told fans in a statement. “Mercifully, he is now out of danger and will soon return home. We have been instructed by the medical team in charge of Jonny’s care to cancel all engagements until he has had time to make a full recovery. To that end, The Smile tour of Europe in August is cancelled. Refunds for headline shows will be available from your ticket provider. We all wish Jonny a speedy recovery.”
You can watch the video for “Don’t Get Me Started” above.