"Do you have trouble remembering your dreams?"

June 26, 2019 9:44 PM

It's a feeling we at ANIMA know only too well. You're deep in a surreal world where you can be anybody you like, where you can do anything. And then you wake up, and the dream fades. It's gone, like smoke on the breeze. Or is it? Here at ANIMA we've built something we call a dream camera.

ANIMA, the new solo album from Thom Yorke, is available to stream or download now. Visit Netflix to watch the ANIMA "one-reeler", directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.

anima noun
an·​i·​ma | \ ˈa-nə-mə \

Definition of anima: an individual’s true inner self that in the analytic psychology of C. G. Jung reflects archetypal ideals of conduct
also: an inner feminine part of the male personality
— compare ANIMUS, PERSONA

Thom Yorke discusses ANIMA with Zane Lowe:

We have started to emulate what our devices say about us and emulate the way we behave from that. I had this whole thing where the reason we can watch Boris Johnson lie through his teeth, promise something that we know will never happen, is we don’t have to connect with it directly because it’s a little avatar. It’s just a little guy with a stupid haircut just waving a flag. That’s alright, it’s funny! And the consequences are not real. The consequences of everything we do are not real. We can remain anonymous. We send our avatar out to hurl abuse and poison and then trot back, anonymous.

Thom Yorke discusses his dreams in 1994:

I never remember my dreams, actually. Hardly ever at all, unfortunately… I think probably if I was that in tune with my dreams that I wouldn’t write the way I write. I mean I kind of tend to use everyday objects and everyday things that happen rather than anything desperately cosmic because that’s kind of the way I am. Doesn’t mean the emotions behind choosing these things are any less relevant. It’s just I can’t write about green people and fluffy clouds and things just ’cause (a) it would sound ridiculous if I said it. Certain people could get away with it. And (b) it just, it wouldn’t make any sense.

Paul Thomas Anderson discusses the production of the one-reeler:

Well, they are independent — they’re separate things — but they’re definitely companion pieces. I mean, ultimately any kind of music video is to guide you toward the record, and not something that you can hold in your hand and take with you. But it’s all Thom. So much of this stuff is directly from Thom’s brain. A lot of the premise of this comes from Thom and this choreographer Damien Jalet, who he worked with on “Suspiria.” They really got along on that and felt like they had unfinished business and still want to continue that collaboration. So I was kind of a third wheel to that. They knew they wanted to do something but weren’t quite clear about what it was. We knew we wanted it to be more than one song. So it just sort of tumbled forward, one thing after another. That’s really how it all came about. We started talking about it in December, and now here we are, in whatever it is — June! — it all came together quite quickly.

posted by JimBennett (12 comments total)

No Bandcamp again, I see.

I've more or less given up on albums which don't appear on Bandcamp, but only as lossy (320kbps MP3/Apple AAC) downloads. If it's something I particularly want, I'll make the effort of mail-ordering it from Norman Records or someone and rip it myself, though generally if it doesn't show up in a local record shop, I'll ignore it.
posted by acb at 2:06 AM on June 27, 2019 [1 favorite]

Here at ANIMA we've built something we call a dream camera.

Until the End of the World: The Musical?
posted by soren_lorensen at 3:42 AM on June 27, 2019 [4 favorites]

Ah... Saw an advert for this on the Northern Line this morning, and was wondering just what it was.
posted by 43rdAnd9th at 4:35 AM on June 27, 2019

That opening Tube scene in ANIMA was ... evocative.
posted by maudlin at 8:31 AM on June 27, 2019

No Bandcamp again, I see.

you can buy it in 24 bit .wav from the second link in the post, which you can then convert to whichever lossless or lossy format you prefer. if you buy a physical copy it comes with a download as well. he doesn’t really need to give bandcamp a cut when afford to just sell his own music on his own website.
posted by JimBennett at 9:01 AM on June 27, 2019 [3 favorites]

We saw the film in imax last night - and were given the lovely gift of a limited edition EP. It was a gorgeous little film, worth the $1 admission.
posted by Windigo at 10:19 AM on June 27, 2019 [1 favorite]

Anyone listened to the album yet?

It's nothing like the "long-ish EP of things that sound like sketches written while waiting for the rest of the band to get back from Tesco's with the scotch eggs" I was expecting. It doesn't even sound terribly much like Radiohead at all.

I spent one evening with it and woke up with parts of it stuck in my head. This one might be special.
posted by hototogisu at 1:57 PM on June 27, 2019

highly recommend everyone watch the short film, it’s masterful
posted by JimBennett at 2:11 PM on June 27, 2019 [1 favorite]

I watched the Netflix video. Next time maybe he can work with Paul W. S. Anderson?

I’m completely serious: music videos have matured a LOT since “Video Killed the Radio Star”, and directors like Young Replicant (aka Alex Takács) have raised the bar into the stratosphere. I expected a lot. I didn’t get it.

Definitely for fans only.
posted by doctor tough love at 6:14 PM on June 27, 2019

^this is a bad opinion
posted by JimBennett at 7:45 PM on June 27, 2019 [2 favorites]

Thank you for posting this, I initally thought it would be very much Not My Kinda Thing - I have bounced hard off of some Radiohead before - but this audio and video was sublime.
posted by Faintdreams at 1:36 PM on June 28, 2019 [1 favorite]

That was pretty terrific. I'm not really too much of a fan of Radiohead or Yorke's more recent work but it works great here as a soundtrack.
posted by octothorpe at 6:12 AM on June 29, 2019 [1 favorite]