Radiohead have just released their ninth studio album titled ‘A Moon Shaped Pool’. Tying in with the release was the second single release ‘Daydreaming‘, a haunting lullaby of dark trudging piano chords, glistening synths and of course Thom Yorke‘s captivating voice wavering over the top. There are delicate additions to the instrumentation in the form of high strings suspended over the track and eerie, yet engrossing reverse vocal effects constantly driving the track along.
The video itself is as beautifully simple and reflective as the song. Directed by the incredible Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood, Inherent Vice, The Master), it is far from a high production bells and whistles that you might expect from a movie director. Instead it follows Thom Yorke walking between different doors and arriving in a variety of diverse environments in an angst, contemplative mood. Much like the music you feel slightly unsettled by the lack of resolution in Yorke’s journey, that is until he ends the video by crawling into a cave and lying by a fire.
Throughout the video you are always asking yourself ‘where is he going? what is he thinking?’, that in itself I feel is the point of the song, that its not where is he going or what is he doing, but more ‘look at where he is and what we are doing’. Trying to nudge people into thinking more about their surroundings and environment. The lyrics ‘Dreamers, They never learn… Beyond the point, Of no return… And it’s too late, The damage is done’ for me strongly suggests that everybody can walk dumb and blind in their lives without seeing the damage we are causing. This is reinforced by the contrasting shots of industrial city scenes against vast nature landscapes.
However, like mentioned before the video is beautiful for its simplicity, take what you will from it and enjoy it in full below…
