Thom Yorke Releases Eerie Music Video for "Last I Heard (…He Was Circling The Drain)”
Fusing black-and-white 16mm film with 3D and cel animation.
After announcing dates for his 2020 solo tour, Thom Yorke has dropped a new music video for “Last I Heard (…He Was Circling The Drain),” a highlight off his latest solo LP ANIMA. The new visuals are entirely black-and-white and remain dystopian, rendering a mix of formats that blends 16mm film with 3D and cel animation, mandating an eerie tone that matches the sonic backdrop.
The video was directed by Art Camp & Saad Moosajee, who signed on an expansive list of designers and support staff specializing in things like simulation and effects, stop motion photography, as well as 3D animation. The video seems to be set in a post-apocalyptic world that feels strangely like a projection of both the future and the present.
Measuring just past the five-minute mark, the video includes a main protagonist: an astronaut who wanders amidst a series of floating cars, faceless bodies, and burning cities as scenes of birds fleeing flash throughout, suggesting that the video might be touching on major world issues like climate change. All of these visuals combined with Yorke’s ethereal vocals and digitally constructed instrumentals make for an enigmatically haunting delivery.
Scroll above for a look at Thom Yorke’s latest music video “Last I Heard (…He Was Circling The Drain).”
Elsewhere, Omar Apollo has released “Frío,” his first single sung entirely in Spanish.