If you’re a fashion label looking for an ambient, atmospheric, slightly robotic soundtrack to one of your upcoming collections, then look no further than Thom Yorke. The Radiohead frontman has established a nice little side hustle for himself in which he provides music for Rag & Bone, a fashion label based out of New York City, when they debut new clothing lines.
Yorke and trusted producer Nigel Godrich last worked with the label in 2013 when they produced the soundtrack for one of their shows, and his latest collaboration with the fashion house accompanies the release of their 2017 spring/summer collection, anchored by the new song “Coloured Candy.” It’s the second new song by Yorke to be released during New York’s Fashion Week. Yorke debuted a new song “Villain,” earlier in the week.
“Coloured Candy” is vintage Yorke, if you were to remove the mechanized afro-beat rhythms he’s become partial to in recent years. The song’s narrative through-line is a robotic voice, one similar to the one used by Radiohead for their song “Fittier Happier” off 1997’s OK Computer. The voice is reciting lines from The Universal Sign, which was the free newspaper the band put out at the same time their album The King of Limbs came out.
The track was played when Rag & Bone debuted their new collection, but as someone who frankly, doesn’t exactly know what it means when a fashion label debuts a new clothing line, I’m wondering how this song would work in a runway setting. But still, of all the things I could imagine a person doing while listening to “Coloured Candy,” walking in a straight line in a determined and stoic way seems very low on the list, if it’s on the list at all.
But again, I could be wrong. I think this song is scrambling my brains.
Thom Yorke, ladies & gentlemen!
