Synopsis
Roni Size moves through a city with a flight to catch, but the journey keeps slipping out of sequence. An egg timer gives him the power to create brief loops in time, allowing him to repeat moments, dodge delays and move closer to the airport. The video's constantly resetting action mirrors the track's restless drum-and-bass momentum, turning an ordinary race against the clock into a surreal, fast-moving chase through urban streets.
Factoids & Trivia
- The video was released in 1997 alongside "Brown Paper Bag," one of the best-known tracks from Roni Size/Reprazent's debut album, "New Forms."
- The time-loop device gives the video a strong visual connection to the track's stop-start rhythmic structure. Contemporary descriptions of the song also emphasized its sense of suspended time and rapidly changing pace.
- "Brown Paper Bag" was nominated for Breakthrough Video at the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards. It competed alongside clips by The Prodigy, Garbage, Sean Lennon and Madonna; The Prodigy won the award for "Smack My Bitch Up."
- "New Forms" went on to win the 1997 Mercury Music Prize, helping bring Bristol's drum-and-bass scene to a much wider audience.
- The song's distinctive sound combines programmed drum-and-bass rhythms with prominent live musical elements, including Si John's double-bass playing and Steve Graham's guitar work.
- The official video remains closely associated with the original 1997 release, while later digital uploads and reissues have continued to circulate the clip for new generations of drum-and-bass listeners.