Philip Selway has recently released a new video for the latest single off of his upcoming album, Weatherhouse, on YouTube. The video for “Coming Up For Air” features several actors in a wide variety of tricky perspective shots, giving off the notion that perhaps not everything is as it seems.
Outside of the 2011 release of Radiohead’s King of Limbs, Selway has been relatively quiet, his only two non-Radiohead projects being the 2010 solo debut, Familial and the 2011 EP Running Blind, but his latest trek into solo territory shows us why, with this particular musician,quality is certainly better than quantity, as Alex Cole reminded us earlier.
The video for “Coming Up For Air” is but a sample of everything that the album will be: a dark, brooding, emotional foray, underpinned by the Radiohead drummer’s breathy vocals and slight, “In The Air Tonight”-ish back beat. The most chilling moment of the video happens when Selway declares “I’m coming up for air” right as we see a soldier emerging from a wall of flames, shouting to his comrades in arms. Is he signaling a retreat, or is he urging his troops on to victory? Whatever the “meaning” behind the lyric and the image that accompanies it, it’s clear that Selway is ready to come up for air himself, outside of the context of the juggernaut that is Radiohead, and allow his own creative juices to flow.
As anticipation builds for the accomplished musician’s October 7th album release, be sure to catch a viewing of “Coming Up For Air,” which is now currently being featured on YouTube.
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