Video of the week: Protection

This week's selection is Massive Attack's "Protection" - one of the most evocative videos, and songs, of the 1990s.

Under the direction of Michel Gondry (who more recently took the helm on "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"), the camera swims around an apartment block, diving into the rooms and discovering arguments, birthdays, moments of despair, and a man soldering a circuitboard. (Well, you can't have everything, can you?)

The images and the music seem to be made to go together - and in a way, of course, they were. But, on closer inspection, the two are almost completely independent. The video, lyrical though it may be, pays scant attention to the actual song lyrics - which are about reaching out to someone in their hour of need. Mind you, having seen all the other Massive Attack videos - singing foetuses, et al - I get the feeling that almost any image would work alongside their melancholic shuffles.

"Melancholic shuffles" would be a great name for a box of granny-chocolates, don't you think?

Video below. Enjoy.

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