Synopsis

Idlewild perform "Little Discourage" in a dark, highly stylized video built around restless editing, stark lighting, and expressionistic imagery. The band appears in fragmented close-ups and performance shots rather than following a conventional narrative. Roddy Woomble's intense presence anchors the clip, while abrupt visual shifts reflect the song's uneasy mix of encouragement, uncertainty, and self-doubt. The result is a tense, impressionistic portrait of the band at the point where its abrasive early sound was developing into something more melodic and expansive.

Factoids & Trivia

• "Little Discourage" was released as a single in the United Kingdom on September 20, 1999, ahead of Idlewild's second album, "100 Broken Windows."

• The song was produced by Dave Eringa, who had recently worked with the Manic Street Preachers. The track and "Roseability" were among the first songs Idlewild recorded with him for the album.

• The song reportedly began with a sound closer to John Farnham's 1986 pop hit "You're the Voice" before the band reshaped it into the sharper, more aggressive arrangement that became the finished recording.

• Roddy Woomble wrote the opening line, "I found a mountain on my own," in his notebook without initially having a complete song in mind. The lyrics were deliberately left vague rather than built around a clearly defined story.

• The video was described in contemporary American music press as expressionistic and received heavy rotation on the alternative channel M2 during Idlewild's breakthrough in the United States.

• The single helped bring Idlewild more radio play and a larger audience. It became the band's highest-charting song in Scotland, reaching No. 12.

• The video was later included with Idlewild's other major clips on the bonus DVD accompanying "Scottish Fiction: Best of 1997-2007."