With his new album Strange Dance due out February 24 via Bella Union, Philip Selway shares a mesmerizing and beautifully-shot black and white video for the track. Produced by Uncommon Creative Studio with director William Williamson, the video features a quartet of renowned and award-winning dancers and choreographers: Siobhan Davies, Kenneth Olumuyiwa Tharp, Simone Damberg Würtz and Liam Francis. Siobhan Davies is one of the UK’s most celebrated dancers and choreographers while Simone Damberg Würtz is a leading light of the Rambert Dance Company, with whom Selway has collaborated, and is currently to be found playing the lead role of Polly Shelby in the company’s adaptation of Peaky Blinders.

Commenting on the video Philip Selway says: “The video for ‘Check For Signs Of Life comes from an idea I had to develop a dance piece over a series of songs from Strange Dance. I wanted the piece to explore imagined conversations between future and past selves and to be based around this particular quartet of dancers. The piece has been choreographed by Simone Damberg Würtz and Liam Francis. They both perform in the video alongside Siobhan Davies and Kenneth Olumuyiwa Tharp.”

Director William Williamson adds: “Working closely alongside Philip and choreographers Simone and Liam we set out to explore the complex relationship between future and former self through the medium of contemporary dance. Transcending time and moving through varied emotions, we wanted to create a film that will inspire the audience to hang their own narrative on. As we rehearsed, the intimacy and fragility of the choreography became so clear I decided to shoot it all in a single take. It meant pulling together the dance, camera and lighting, to communicate a sense of unity and power, which stays focused in the moment.”

Selway – known predominantly known as the drummer for Radiohead for decades – actually “sacked” himself from the drums within a couple of hours of recording. Instead, Valentina Magaletti brought her “distinctive voice” to the drums and percussion. Another vital voice is the arrangements by Laura Moody which complement Marta Salogni’s production. On What Keeps You Awake At Night, for example, the strings and synths spool out deliciously, in a meditative loop, taking the listener somewhere far away, and then six minutes in, a new texture appears, staccato-like rain drops adding to the whirl.

This sonic expressiveness is played by the LCO, conducted by Robert Ames, the Assemble Choir with arrangements by Juliet Russell, and the Elysian Collective. As Strange Dance unfurls, it takes the listener through different weathers and seasons. Picking Up Pieces is driven by the motorik pulse of Utley’s guitar before bursting into a voluptuous sunlit chorus. The Other Side is a graceful, shiver-giving ballad which melts into a sensuous middle eight. Each song carries varied and diverse shades and textures of emotion. Lyrically, it is artful. Selway has a gift at writing heartfelt lyrics which could relate to any number of human experiences.

“One of the things I’ve liked about this record is it’s me as a 55-year-old not trying to hide that fact,” says Selway. “It feels kind of unguarded rather than seeing that aging process as something that needs to be hidden.” And there is a buoyancy and warmth to the record; a sense of optimism and hope. “I wanted it to have that space so if you’re listening to it you can lose yourself in it,” he says. “Almost like a refuge.”

Philip Selway
Strange Dance
Bella Union
Track Listing

1. Little Things
2. What Keeps You Awake At Night
3. Check For Signs Of Life
4. Picking Up Pieces
5. The Other Side
6. Strange Dance
7. Make It Go Away
8. The Heart Of It All
9. Salt Air
10. There’ll Be Better Days

Pre-order Strange Dance by Philip Selway HERE