Synopsis

"Stitches" turns a music video into a retro computer adventure. The clip opens and unfolds like a game loading on a Sinclair ZX Spectrum, using typed prompts, blocky pixel graphics, and deliberately limited animation. A small on-screen world gradually takes shape as the narrative progresses, with the viewer watching events through the detached interface of an old text-based game. Rather than showing the performers, the video translates the song's dark, restless atmosphere into an abstract digital journey shaped by commands, glitches, and vintage game logic.

Factoids & Trivia

• "Stitches" was the first single from Polinski's debut album, "Labyrinths," released in 2011.

• Polinski is the electronic side project of Paul Wolinski, best known as a member of the British experimental rock band 65daysofstatic.

• The track features vocals from Jonathan Bates, whose electronic project is Big Black Delta. His lyrics helped shape the video's story.

• The concept was designed to recreate the experience of using a Sinclair ZX Spectrum, including tape-loading screens and graphics that appear to build themselves on screen.

• Paul Wolinski and Caspar Newbolt wrote the video's story. It expands on elements of the song rather than presenting a conventional performance clip.

• John De Lucca created the pixel-art graphics, reworking and expanding images originally developed for the vinyl packaging of "Labyrinths."

• Josiah Newbolt animated the artwork. He and Caspar Newbolt are brothers, making the project a collaboration between the Newbolt studio team and Wolinski.

• The video's deliberately restricted visual language became one of its main attractions. Contemporary coverage described it as a text-based game rather than a standard animated music video.

• The project won a Color in Design award in 2012.