Synopsis

A woman rides an elevator through an increasingly oppressive nightmare. As the lift stalls and seems to plunge, rapid cuts introduce fans, machinery, ducts, industrial surfaces, and medical imagery. The harsh, high-pitched electronic squeal turns the enclosed space into an audiovisual asthma attack, while the editing keeps the viewer trapped inside the same anxious, airless rhythm. The video offers no conventional resolution, ending as an unsettling barrage of mechanical movement and bodily discomfort.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video version of "Ventolin" appeared before the track was issued on record. It was later included on Aphex Twin's 1995 album ...I Care Because You Do.

• Richard D. James said the track was designed to evoke the sensation of an asthma attack, particularly its claustrophobic feeling and wheezing sound.

• James had asthma himself and described the piercing tone as an attempt to recreate wheezing without sampling his own breathing.

• The track takes its name from Ventolin, a brand name associated with salbutamol asthma inhalers. The EP's artwork also uses medical and anatomical imagery, reinforcing the connection between the sound, the title, and the video.

• Unlike Aphex Twin's later narrative-heavy videos, "Ventolin" is built around repetition, sensory overload, and industrial textures rather than a clearly explained storyline.