Synopsis

Moray McLaren performs against a mesmerizing world of spinning records, mirrored surfaces, and hand-drawn figures. As the turntables rotate, the illustrations appear to move through a series of looping scenes, transforming everyday mechanical motion into a surreal animated landscape. The imagery shifts between side-on carousel views and overhead shots of record labels, with human forms and abstract shapes repeatedly appearing, changing, and disappearing. The result is a hypnotic visual counterpart to the song, built around cycles, movement, and the illusion of animation.

Factoids & Trivia

• The animation was created entirely in camera. No stop-frame animation, computer-generated imagery, or compositing was used for the finished visuals.

• The technique was based on the praxinoscope, a pre-cinematic animation device that uses rotating images and mirrors to create the illusion of movement.

• The production used 14 mirrored carousels and 114 individually illustrated record labels placed on ordinary turntables.

• The side-on sequences were made by filming reflections in the rotating mirrored devices. For the overhead shots, the camera's frame rate was matched to the speed of the spinning records.

• Every animated frame was hand-drawn, designed, and colored during a five-week pre-production process.

• The video became one of the most recognized music promos of 2009, winning Best Budget Video in the rock, indie, and alternative category at the UK Music Video Awards.

• Its handmade optical effects later attracted renewed online attention because viewers sometimes mistook the pre-digital technique for modern AI-generated imagery.