New Release: Radiohead - Burn The Witch
It is extremely refreshing to see a music video that has been worked on so much. In a Camberwick Green meets Hot Fuzz and The Wicker Man style music video, Radiohead's "Burn The Witch" is a tongue-in-cheek video that is fresh and imaginative, making an ingenious political statement in the process.
Radiohead are a five piece alternative rock band consisting of Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Colin Greenwood, Ed O'Brien and Philip Selway. Returning from a hiatus, Radiohead has made one of the biggest comebacks with this first release from their ninth studio album. The band and the single have both trended worldwide on Twitter, with much hype and love going out to the band. The song is set to chart highly on the UK singles chart this coming Friday, The song has been in talks since 2000, and has been a long awaited single, much like "Nude" which was written 12 years prior to its release. This just proves that Radiohead are focused on recording songs just right, nothing but perfection will do.
Directed by Chris Hopewell, this entire music video took a total of 14 days to complete. Completely focused and detailed, it's so nice to see that a lot of thought went into this music video, and it relates well with the lyrics, even if controversy has flared up.
An inspector visits the town. He refuses to shake the hand of the mayor. The mayor shows the inspector around the village, there's a model village with actual model people moving about, there's a painter putting a red cross on a door (link to an ominous passover), there's a symbolic ritual where a woman is tied up, there's a gallows that has been dolled up with flowers. And then there's the big finale, there's a big wooden wicker man, which the inspector is encouraged to climb into by the mayor, and then is set alight. At the end, we find out the inspector has survived this incredible ordeal.
Every minute detail is spoken for in this music video, a lot of effort, which totally has paid off. This is something I could watch again and again and again.
It takes me back to a childhood I barely remember. A few children's TV shows has used this stop-motion animation plenty of times before as well as some advertisements and commercials. Definitely inspired by Camberwick Green, Trumpton and Chigley (all three series are part of the Trumptonshire trilogy). It is also being compared to the likes of The Wicker Man and Hot Fuzz, there is a lot of links and references to these films, which can be found here.
Overall, I love this so much, it stands out on any music channel, it relates perfectly with the song. Tongue-in-cheek, surprising and definitely interesting, this music video has it all, a perfect narrative with a tonne of effort that definitely pays off. With the amount of YouTube hits this video has been getting, as well as the chart placing this Friday, Radiohead is officially back!
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