Advertisements for Thom Yorke’s mysterious solo project are amping up this week. Just before 10pm last night (June 19), vast projections showed up on London landmarks including Big Ben, Marble Arch, and the Tate Modern, with a cryptic statement that read: “Do you have trouble remembering your dreams?”
The strange projections continued: “It’s a feeling we know all too well at ANIMA. You’re deep in a surreal world where you can be anybody you like, where you can do anything. And then when you wake up, the dream fades. It’s gone. Or is it? Here at ANIMA, we’ve built something we call a dream camera. Just call or text the number. 07588 73 31 11.”
The Radiohead member’s promotion for his upcoming album has been truly enigmatic. Initially appearing as strange, ominous adverts on the London underground for a ‘Dream Camera’, the fictional ‘ANIMA Technologies’, more were then discovered internationally, including parts of Italy.
Anyone who calls Yorke’s advertised number hears a strange automated statement about how ANIMA has been “ordered by the High Court to cease and desist” its operations, followed by airy, synthy sounds. This sound has been identified as a snippet from Yorke’s unreleased song, "Not The News", which he has previously only played out on tour..
The recent theft of Radiohead’s entire OK Computer sessions earlier this month prompted the band to released all 18 hours on Bandcamp, with proceeds given to climate activist group Extinction Rebellion.
Little else is known about Yorke’s upcoming solo album though, only going so far as to tell Crack Magazine that our dystopian society is “definitely” reflected on the record. It is possible that ‘ANIMA’ is the title. There is no release date for the album – or a dream camera of any kind – as of yet, but expect the unexpected.