Radiohead and Hans Zimmer dive deeper

Radiohead and Hans Zimmer: perhaps not the first two names that you’d imagine in the same room. Though here, the rock band from Oxford and the German film score composer have joined forces to reimagine Radiohead’s ‘Bloom’ (the opening track from their 2011 album The King Of Limbs) for the prequel of the Blue Planet II series which will first air on 29th October 2017. The original Bloom has now come full circle, as lead singer Thom Yorke revealed that one of the main inspirations came from the first series of Blue Planet, in 2001.

However this time round, with "(Ocean) Bloom", we get a very different feel: the new version strips away the driving bass line and syncopated drums, focusing instead on a luscious orchestral undercurrent and Yorke’s soaring re-recorded vocals. Zimmer "stayed respectful" to the group’s song, adding that "if somebody hands you somebody else’s work, there’s responsibility and respect that comes with that". In order to evoke the random swells of the ocean, the producers used what they call a ‘tidal orchestra’; the orchestra were simply instructed "when the guy next to you’s playing, don’t play!", creating the base layer for the entire soundtrack out of a single note. The result is much more atmospheric than the original, perfectly capturing the enchanting yet unforgiving power of the ocean. An exquisite collaboration.

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