Thom Yorke and Mark Pritchard Share Glitchy New Single ‘Gangsters’

Thom Yorke and Mark Pritchard have shared the new song “Gangsters,” the latest single from their upcoming collaborative album Tall Tales.

As with every track from the LP, “Gangsters” was paired with a video by visual artist Jonathan Zawada. “I was unsure about ‘Gangsters’ until [Zawada] did the video,” Pritchard told Rolling Stone in a recent interview. “When he did the video, then it actually finally made sense to me. There’s a lot of that going on.”

As Pritchard also revealed in the interview, the distinctly Eighties, 8-bit sound on “Gangsters” was created using a Mattel Bee Gees [toy] synthesizer. “I think Thom was almost shocked when I showed him what it was,” the electronic musician said, adding that the Radiohead singer also contributed music to the track in addition to his warped vocals.

“I think [Yorke] enjoys doing that stuff as much as he does singing, and I guess sometimes more than singing. He actually added quite a lot of stuff. In ‘Gangsters,’ there’s a mad percussive synth riff that comes into that. He added that. He likes having fun playing synthesizers and whatever he can.”

Yorke and Pritchard previously shared the first singles, “Back in the Game” and “This Conversation Is Missing Your Voice,” from Tall Tales, arriving May 9. The night before, on May 8, a feature-length film comprised of Zawada’s Tall Tales visuals will screen in theaters for one night only.