Aphex Twin Video

MUSIC VIDEO BACKGOUND

In Come To Daddy, Chris Cunningham stages a miserable and surreal scene of run-down suburban tower blocks, in which an old woman walks her dog along a street strewn with litter. Camera and sound foster a feeling of suspense: the woman is not alone. In an adjacent car park something appears to be lurking. 

When her dog urinates on an apparently broken-down television, the contorted face of the musician Aphex Twin appears on the screen. The title-song begins, and a distorted voice screams out from the TV: “I want your soul.” The old woman is driven in terror and discovers a group of children in the car park, each with the grinning, grimacing face of Aphex Twin. The demon in the television calls out to the children the words of the song-title: “come to daddy.” Carrying their “father”, they run through the carpark, sending a car owner fleeing in terror – all the time wreaking havoc to the beat of the song’s syncopated rhythm.

The central scene of the work depicts the birth of the demon, who emerges naked and gaunt from the television. The editing is fast and he twitches to the beat. The contorted face again appears on the screen, but this time there is only one television: the one you are watching.

How did the director of this video Chris Cunningham, come up with his Visual Concept for this track?

This introduction to the world of Come to Daddy, however, is not accompanied by the song, Come to Daddy. When compared with the compact disc recording, the Come to Daddy song proper begins only after the distorted image of Richard D. James first appears in the TV set. Throughout the first minute and sixteen seconds, we hear an introduction section that appears either to have been scored specifically for this video, or at the very least to have been pulled from some unreleased Aphex Twin material . 

While the illustrated book that accompanies the Work of Director Chris Cunningham DVD makes no mention of the introduction section, the lack of any additional credits, along with the unique electronic style, would suggest that it was scored by Richard D. James. However, it does raise the interesting question of whether the music was composed for the visuals, or the visuals were composed for the music in this section, and also whether it really matters.

How do the images link to the Music and Lyrics?

Chris Cunningham in many of his videos manages to employ a sense of a narrative and which in some ways frustrate us ‘the viewer’ through the use of abstract imagery and unusual editing sequences. From a position of the viewer he also managed to place a video on television that is not seen as mainstream that does not relate to MTV era image. And creating an underlying theme of art, socialty and humanity these elements, and the terrifying Aphex Twin soundtrack, all contribute to the cult success of the Come to Daddy video release.

The video itself communicates many issues that were beginning at the time to make headline news and gaining more awareness in public. Issues of behavior, respect, community division and social problems within communities have been in the past seen as a national taboo or the issue that has been pushed under the carpet. This in someways has taken the issue onto the main stage.