Sleep Sound

Album: Single Release Only (2014)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • The song's music video was directed by Sofia Mattioli, who is a London-based artist and poet. The clip shows deaf children and young adults dancing in response to both the director's movements and the music's vibrations in the air. "I was on a train listening to music, getting deep into it, and this girl started staring at me," Mattioli told Nowness of the genesis of her visual. "After a while I took my headphones off and she came up to me, started signing and then wrote me a note to say that she was deaf but could almost feel the music by my movement."

    With the germ of an idea from this chance encounter, Mattioli created the video using 13 members of the Manchester Deaf Centre. "The relationship between silence and music is a big part of what I am trying to express with my work," said Mattioli. "The first kid in the video, Archie, was bliss - all of them were amazing. I hope this is a project I can develop further."
  • The clip won Best Video at the 2014 Q Awards. Jamie told Q magazine how the video came about: "The idea came from Sofia," he said, "she's obsessed with the correlation between sound and silence and she wanted to see if her movements and vibrations of my song could influence deaf and partially deaf children and adults - to see if they would be able to dance to the music even if they couldn't hear it. It's a very honest, touching and I guess, beautiful video."
  • This samples the barbershop vocals from the Four Freshmen's 1952 track "It's a Blue World."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Allen Toussaint - "Southern Nights"

Allen Toussaint - "Southern Nights"They're Playing My Song

A song he wrote and recorded from "sheer spiritual inspiration," Allen's didn't think "Southern Nights" had hit potential until Glen Campbell took it to #1 two years later.

Richard Marx

Richard MarxSongwriter Interviews

Richard explains how Joe Walsh kickstarted his career, and why he chose Hazard, Nebraska for a hit.

Commercials

CommercialsFact or Fiction

Was "Ring Of Fire" really used to sell hemorrhoid cream?

John Doe of X

John Doe of XSongwriter Interviews

With his X-wife Exene, John fronts the band X and writes their songs.

Yoko Ono

Yoko OnoSongwriter Interviews

At 80 years old, Yoko has 10 #1 Dance hits. She discusses some of her songs and explains what inspired John Lennon's return to music in 1980.

Loreena McKennitt

Loreena McKennittSongwriter Interviews

The Celtic music maker Loreena McKennitt on finding musical inspiration, the "New Age" label, and working on the movie Tinker Bell.