Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip and producer Mike Simonetti — founder of Troubleman Unlimited and Italians Do It Better, and one half of Pale Blue — have shared their cover of Bonnie “Prince” Billy‘s I See A Darkness. It’s the latest preview of I See A Darkness / Perfect Kiss, a limited 12″ out 12th June via Smugglers Way that pairs the cover with the duo’s original Perfect Kiss and remixes from claire rousay and Black Forces. Both songs are streaming now.
The accompanying video is directed by Ben Crook and “written for the stage” by Taylor and Crook. It stars Taylor and German actor David Bredin, with supporting turns from Jarvis Cocker and Sian Ahern. Two men reconnect over a drink in a dimly lit room, edging their armchairs closer as the song’s pleas for compromise and understanding intensify.
Taylor explains the concept at length:
“Sat in the dark in a hotel room on my own on tour, and after 3 aborted attempts to work with different film makers to get something made for ‘I See A Darkness,’ I came up with a very simple idea myself, to accompany the music and to try to get to the emotion and the narrative at the core of Will Oldham’s beautiful song. I saw the room that we see in the film — the scene, the two men facing each other and getting closer in their armchairs as the intensity of what they sing to each other increases. I saw the lady at the centre and back of the same space, illuminated by lamp light for the choruses, and the red balloon hovering over the 4 people in the scene. I wanted this to be like a televised Samuel Beckett play, and to be surreal, simple, and emotionally direct. Ben Crook helped me massively, understanding my vision, directing beautifully and bringing the whole thing to life.
I cast David Bredin after meeting him in Rostock, Germany, and believing he would be right for the role. I’m glad I trusted my gut. He delivers an incredibly moving performance and somehow exceeded my expectations of what we could achieve emotionally in this short film. He clearly feels what he is conveying through the lyrics and you can’t miss that.
Jarvis Cocker and Sian Ahern are both composed and brilliant in their supporting roles, and they were there to represent Mike Simonetti and Elizabeth Wight’s musical roles in the track.
Bonnie himself is there in spirit, all ‘busted up’, to quote another of his songs; the sculpture was made as a surprise for me, by Ben.
It was a joy to conceive this and to work on it with Ben Crook and the whole team on the day. The best experience I have had on a video shoot. I hope people connect with it!”
Director Ben Crook adds:
“Alexis called me one winter day last year and asked if I could help turn an idea of his into a music video. He had a very clear vision: two people sat opposite one another in dialogue, emerging from darkness, their chairs slowly moving towards one another. The simplicity and purity of the concept immediately intrigued me.
[“I See A Darkness”] has always felt like an internal dialogue — a drunk man convincing himself he can change his ways, a conversation between opposing perspectives, an alcoholic ‘Waiting For Godot.’ I knew instantly this film should feel like a 1970s BBC TV; it needed to be authentically theatrical, and definitely not a performance music video. Accordingly, we shot on a vintage valve video from that era and also on 16mm film. To keep it as authentic as possible, I took the lyrics and wrote a script — the songs broken into scenes and lines of dialogue so that Alexis and our incredible actor David Bredin knew their lines and actions in advance.
Alexis met David while on tour, and casting him as the friend in the darkness was perfection. We also felt that it was important to have the presence of Elizabeth [Wight] and Mike [Simonetti] in the film. With an ocean separating us, Sian Ahern and Jarvis Cocker stepped in to portray them instead.”
The team-up has been years in the making. Taylor and Simonetti first met at the now-closed Williamsburg club Output, where Simonetti was DJing; Taylor was taken with his re-edits, then with his Pale Blue work alongside Elizabeth Wight. Swapping demos, Taylor sent an early sketch of I See A Darkness — he heard a house version of it in his head — and Simonetti pulled it somewhere else, the friction shaping the finished track. Wight sings backing vocals, and Taylor has been dropping the song into his DJ sets. “Will Oldham is probably my favorite songwriter who’s still alive,” he says. “[‘I See A Darkness’] is a foundational song for me.”
Will Oldham first released I See A Darkness as the title track of his 1999 album, his first under the Bonnie “Prince” Billy name, via Palace Records, and it remains a cult favourite. Johnny Cash covered it on American III: Solitary Man (2000) with Rick Rubin, a session engineered by David “Ferg” Ferguson — the same Ferguson who later produced Oldham’s The Purple Bird, a KLOF Album of the Year.
I See A Darkness / Perfect Kiss (12th June 2026) Smugglers Way The claire rousay and Black Forces remixes are initially vinyl-only, with a digital release to follow later in 2026.
Stream: https://smugglersway.ffm.to/iseeadarkness