GOLDFRAPP - Pilots

What this video is

Released in late 2001 as the fifth and final single from Felt Mountain, 'Pilots' arrived at the peak of the album's delayed commercial and critical ascent — the record had been shortlisted for the 2001 Mercury Prize and was en route to UK gold certification. The video exists within a broader Mute Records visual tradition of commissioning arthouse-inflected promotional films for music that defied easy genre…

Why it matters

A key document of British cinematic downtempo/art-pop at the turn of the millennium, 'Pilots' represents the visual articulation of a sound — and aesthetic — that bridged trip-hop's late-1990s legacy with the baroque electronic pop that would define the early 2000s UK independent scene. As the…

The director

British director who began his career in music videos before transitioning into UK television and film. He directed every episode of the cult BBC/Big Talk series Free Agents and the first season of Showtime/BBC's Episodes. His 2014 feature debut Cuban Fury…