James Murphy's epic remix of David Bowie's "Love Is Lost" has been given the video treatment in the form of a sprawling 10-minute clip about a digitally rendered couple that come together and fall apart. Directed by Barnaby Roper, the clip opens with a kaleidoscope of clapping hands before cutting to individual lines, moving, fluctuating and expanding into a new form to the Murphy's gorgeously glitchy creation. The shape grows into something resembling an eye, then a nose, and the contours of a human body until two fully formed faces appear about halfway through.
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What follows is the hottest, heaviest, most pixelated lovemaking session probably ever put to tape. It is definitely NSFW, but also hauntingly gorgeous, especially as the couple's corporeal forms begin to dissolve back into simple digital lines.
This is actually the second clip for Murphy's "Love Is Lost" remix, with Bowie himself writing, shooting and directing the other, which was released at the end of October. Recorded in his Manhattan office with the help of his assistant and a friend, the eerie clip makes use of puppets from Bowie's own archive. The entire video cost $12.99 – which is how much he paid for the thumb drive onto which he transferred the finished version.
"Love Is Lost" initially appeared on Bowie's March release, The Next Day, his first album of new material in 10 years. The record also received the deluxe edition treatment as a three-disc set that includes Murphy's "Love Is Lost (Hello Steve Reich Mix"), another remix and five new cuts.
Be sure to also check out Bowie's big budget clips for two other Next Day cuts, including the religious themed one for the title-cut (starring Gary Oldman and Marion Cotillard), and the fame-pondering "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)," in which Bowie appeared alongside Tilda Swinton.