Synopsis

Tricky and Alison Goldfrapp appear in a stark, blue-lit performance piece built around intense close-ups rather than a conventional storyline. Their faces and bodies emerge from darkness as a thin red laser repeatedly cuts across the frame, creating a sense of confinement and unease. The minimal setting, harsh contrasts, and almost flashlight-like illumination give the video a hypnotic, claustrophobic quality that mirrors the song's murky blend of sensuality, vulnerability, and disorientation.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was made in 1995 for "Pumpkin," a track from Tricky's debut album, "Maxinquaye."

• The production was filmed in London for Propaganda Films, with Kirsten Syme credited as producer.

• The clip's blue color palette and red laser provide its most distinctive visual elements. The laser's repeated passage across the frame gives the impression that the performers are being scanned, observed, or trapped.

• Contemporary criticism of the video has compared its visual treatment of the human body to the effect of a barcode scanner, an apt description of its cold, mechanical look.

• Alison Goldfrapp provides the song's prominent additional vocals. Her work with Tricky predates the formation of Goldfrapp, the electronic duo she later established with Will Gregory.

• The track uses a sample from "Suffer" by The Smashing Pumpkins. The connection is reflected in the title, although Tricky later said the sample was intended more as a provocation than a tribute.

• The video was later included in collections of Tricky's promotional films, including the DVD "A Ruff Guide," and in the director-focused compilation "The Work of Director Stephane Sednaoui."