“The original instrumental to Beautiful People is a personal song about loss, hopelessness and chaos, but the message is love and hope. Thom’s contribution to this collaboration captured perfectly what the piece is about. I will be for ever grateful to have worked with such an immense talent.”
Mark Pritchard, The Guardian
Multidimensional English electronic musician Mark Pritchard collaborated with Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke to produce "Beautiful People", a breathtakingly atmospheric track that appears on his latest album Under the Sun (2016). The contrast embedded within the track is evident in the juxtaposition between Pritchard's impressionistic, escapist and lush instrumentation (which feature synthesizers that mimic flute and clarinet sounds) with Yorke's heavily processed vocals, which make him sound "like he's singing through clenched teeth, his words reduced to something like pure tone" (Philip Sherburne, Pitchfork):
'till the light goes off'till the light goes offFlies out of the windowBut angel stroke your headTo know you're thereWe can't go back(the morning light)(the morning light)(the morning light)'
Lyrics: Genius
Polish filmmaker Michal Marczak produced a fittingly surreal and otherworldly music video to accompany the track, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in July this year:
"Isolated and alone, a wandering stranger from another world finds himself stranded. Surrounded by an unforgiving – yet hypnotically breathtaking – landscape, we inquiringly watch as he makes his way. Who he is, where he’s from or why he is here is unknown, but what we do know is his time is running out. Our stranger’s curiosity is mesmerizing. We watch as he explores the planet’s mountains and rocks; crushing fundamental laws of nature along the way".
