In the new video for Mark Pritchard and Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke’s collaborative track “Beautiful People,” we find an unidentified man exploring an icy, desolate landscape.
The video, directed by Polish documentarian Michał Marczak, first premiered at the Sundance Next Fest earlier this month, wowing audiences with both Pritchard’s beautiful instrumental as well as the video’s absolutely stunning visuals. Shot in the Izera mountains of Poland, the scenery is fantastic and dreamlike on its own, but Marczak shows off his own directorial chops to match the track. For example, adds his own surreal touches to match Pritchard and Yorke’s hypnotizing track.
“The idea was to illustrate the songs underlying emotions by way of a mysterious character’s slow, non-linear, cinematic journey through an out-of-this-world landscape, chiming with the album artwork,” said Marczak. “The eerie atmosphere developed by gradually and only partially revealing certain elements, leaving it to the viewer to put the final pieces together.”
The eerie imagery created by Marczak captures a nomadic sense of isolation, a space-like excursion of Beta-Band and Björk-like proportions, set to the gently shuffling bossa nova, and led by the hologram of Yorke as he navigates his way around the misty mountains.
Musically, the track features a minimalist yet unbelievably gorgeous background, with Yorke’s listless voice floating in and out of the notes to add an additional ethereal atmosphere. “Beautiful People” is simply illuminated by the ambience and stillness of Pritchard’s intoxicating electronic instrumentation.
“The original instrumental to Beautiful People is a personal song about loss, hopelessness and chaos, but the message is love and hope,” Pritchard says of the track. “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.”
“Beautiful People” was first shown to the public in March, and was featured in Pritchard’s May 2016 record Under the Sun.
Check out the new music video for Mark Pritchard’s “Beautiful People” here: