Thom Yorke sings on the new Mark Pritchard track ‘Beautiful People’

While most of the music world awaits a new Radiohead album this year ( artist Stanley Donwood says it’s nearly done and it’s a ‘work of art’ – he would say that), Thom Yorke’s voice has appeared on a new track from Mark Pritchard from the UK producer’s forthcoming Under The Sun album on Warp Records.

‘Beautiful People’ finds Yorke singing in treated and original form over a flute melody, synth notes and some light percussion. It’s beautifully effective as a piece of music.Under The Sun is released on May 12th which also features Bibio, Linda Perhacs and Beans. Tracklisting below.

https://youtu.be/Z6rW2GpQLQE

The song has been added to the Nialler9 New Music Playlist on Spotify.

Designed to be listened to in one sitting, ‘Under The Sun’ achieves what most albums aim for but rarely achieve – perfect synergy. Where the potential of the sum of the parts, the individual tracks, resonate even more fully when experienced as part of the whole album. ‘Under The Sun’ is one story told in chapters and, as with any good story, the spell is only maintained if you don’t skip to the end. Pritchard, as usual, defies easy categorization and that is what gives depth and nuance to this work. He draws on the sounds and influences genetically coded in his musical DNA; ambient, nu-wave, avant-garde electronics and folk; but reimagines them through an otherworldly filter that cements Under The Sun somewhere in the future, rather than the past. This is a personal work, innovative and brave from the opening drone of ‘?’ to the delicate bass-heavy ambience of the closing title track, ‘Under The Sun’. It’s an emotional exploration but without ever becoming manipulative. In every moment there is space for the listener to imagine and project their own meaning, allowing it to become more subjective and more intimate with each listen. Recalled memory is an important theme here and a sense of the English West Country of Pritchard’s youth echoes through the album. Certain musical moods recur, particularly a kind of tonality that he half-seriously refers to as “medieval”, a way with chords and melodies, and also a sense of storytelling, that most obviously comes through the psychedelic influences on the Thom Yorke and Linda Perhacs collaborations ‘Beautiful People’ and ‘You Wash my Soul’. Each song evokes a different sensibility, the classic Global Communication style space voyaging of ‘EMS’ and ‘Sad Alron’, can sit alongside the dark poetry and vintage avant-garde synthesis of ‘The Blinds Cage’ with Beans from Antipop Consortium, and the tropicalia and Beach Boys influences of Bibio, all on the same record.

‘Under The Sun’ is available to preorder on Vinyl, CD and Digital formats:

Bleep • iTunes • Google Play

Stream ‘Beautiful People (feat. Thom Yorke)’:

Apple Music • Spotify • Google Play

MARK PRITCHARD

UNDER THE SUN TRACK LIST

1. Give It Your Choir (feat. Bibio)
2. Infrared
3. Falling
4. Beautiful People (feat. Thom Yorke)
5. Where Do They Go, The Butterflies
6. Sad Alron
7. You Wash My Soul (feat. Linda Perhacs)
8. Cycles Of 9
9. Hi Red
10. Ems
11. The Blinds Cage (feat. Beans)
12. Dawn Of The North
13. Khufu
14. Rebel Angels
15. Under The Sun