Pitchfork

There's a fine line between falling and flying. The video for "The Rip", one of the softer songs from Portishead's Best New Music-worthy reunion album Third, shows a pencil-animated cast of grotesque characters who sit on both sides of that line. As Beth Gibbons sings about white horses over gently plucked acoustic arpeggios, we see loggers, skull-like faces, and figures who are either floating or tumbling to their dooms. Shortly before drums and synths arrive for a shift in dynamics, the setting changes from one of free fall to one that's apparently underwater, where eyeball fishes swim beside fishes that look like clocks. Later, Gibbons sings of "the tenderness I feel", and hang-gliders steer themselves between skyscrapers. You can also see a higher-quality video at Portishead's site. (via Idolator)

[from Third; out now on Island]