The Splitting The Atom EP released on the 5th October 2009, acted as a preview for the forthcoming Heligoland album at the time. Pictured above is the limited edition vinyl edition produced by The Vinyl Factory.
UK Release: 5th October 2009 (Splitting The Atom EP)
UK Highest Chart: 64th
Track Duration: 05:17
Formats: CD, Vinyl, Digital. View Discography Entry.
Written By: Robert Del Naja, Grant Marshall, Neil Davidge and Damon Albarn
Produced By: Robert Del Naja, Grant Marshall and Neil Davidge
1st Promo Video Directed By:Baillie Walsh
2nd Promo Video Directed By:Edouard Salier
Splitting The Atom was the product of Massive Attack going into Damon Albarn’s London studio for a period of roughly two weeks in late 2008, in an attempt to finish the fifth studio album. This was following Massive Attack’s decision which had perplexed their record label at the time, to abandon the majority of the songs they had been working on up to then and which had been debuted live earlier that same year.
They hoped that working with Damon Albarn (who was good friend and past collaborator of the band), would provide the impetus or needed external inspiration to finish the album and Splitting The Atom was the first song completed in these sessions. The two Martina Topley-Bird tracks from Heligoland (Babel and Psyche) were also largely completed during this period with Damon.
Relatively speaking, Splitting The Atom was one of last songs made for the Heligoland album, even though it was the first track to be debuted from the album on BBC1’s Zane Lowe show on the 25th August 2009. The accompanying Splitting The Atom EP was released digitally on the 5th October 2009, functioning as a preview sampler for the upcoming new album.
Damon Albarn, who plays the keyboards on this track had previously worked with Massive Attack on Small Time Shot Away from 100th Window, and “One Day At A Time†from the Ordinary Decent Criminal soundtrack.
First new Massive Attack track since 1998’s Mezzanine to feature Daddy G on vocals. The last time he had recorded vocals that featured on a record was backing vocals on the Alpha track “Wishes†from their 2001 album “The Impossible Thrillâ€.
Some of the lyrics heard in Splitting The Atom, had been previously used in the unreleased Massive Attack track Dobro played exclusively on the 2008 live tour, before being abandoned like much of the other new material from that year. Snippets of these reused lyrics from Dobro include “Repeating the joke; The meaning it dies†and “The needle sticks and the penny dropsâ€.
Splitting the Atom was used as the opening theme music on the short lived 2011-2012 HBO TV series “Luckâ€starring Hollywood actor Dustin Hoffman. This recalls the last time a Massive Attack track had been used in the opening theme music for a major American TV series – Teardrop in Fox’s House M.D.
Blur & Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn who helped co-write Splitting The Atom, also performed the track with Massive Attack for the first time at the Brixton Academy, London on the 17th September 2009. View the video of that performance on YouTube.
Splitting The Atom was first played live at the Bestival Festival on the Isle Of Wight on the 11th September 2009. The second time it was played just over a week later, on the 19th at Brixton Academy, Massive Attack were joined on stage by Damon Albarn performing keyboards and backing vocals on stage. Damon Albarn would perform Splitting The Atom with Massive Attack one last time at the Hammersmith Apollo on the 11th February 2010. Outside of these special performances, Splitting The Atom has become a semi permanent fixture at most Massive Attack shows (continuing to do so on the 2014 tour) usually being performed towards the end of the setlist with vocals as they are on the album by 3D, Daddy G and Horace Andy.
Daddy G on the meaning behind the name Splitting The Atom – “It’s just a reference that D made to splitting us. The way that we’ve moved and taken our ideas since our incarnation as The Wild Bunch, then Massive Attack and how things have split away from the main source. People have fallen away, we’ve split off into different factions – it’s just a metaphor for how we work.†[Clash Music – October 2009]
3D on working with Damon Albarn in his London studio during the sessions that produced Splitting The Atom –“Damon agreed to work with us after saying he wouldn’t get sucked into a two year Bristolian vortex and would only do over a period of two weeks from the hours of 10am to 6pm and everything would be in a major key, no minor keys whatsoever. Of course all that changed when we got there, apart from the vortex bit!†[Heligoland Promo EMI Interview DVD – January 2010]
Daddy G:
The first of the two promo videos for Splitting The Atom was directed by Baillie Walsh, who had previously directed all of the Blue Lines era videos for Massive Attack back in 1991-1992.
The bed it was warmNettles and FernsThe evening it chokesThe candle it burnsThis disguise coversBitter liesRepeating the jokeThe meaning it diesPass me a coat I’m not afraid to leaveI’m letting you knowI know what you needI’ll turn you aroundThis beautiful townAnd then you’ll believe it when your eyes then deceive you
Horace Andy:
Its easy, dont let it goIts easy, dont let it goIts easy, dont let it goDon’t Lose It
Its getting colder outsideYour rented spaceThey shadow box and theyPaper chaseIt never stopsAnd we’ll never learnNo hope without dopeThe jobless returnThe bankers have bailedThe mighty retreatThe pleasure it failsAt the end of the weekYou take it or leaveOr what you receiveTo what you receiveIs eternity leave
Its easy, dont let it goIts easy, dont let it goIts easy, dont let it goDon’t lose it
3D:
Incandescent light at doorsIn adolescent menopauseIn little clicks you got the music stopsThe needle sticks and the penny dropsThe summer’s gone before you knowThe muffled drums of relentless flowYou’re looking at stars that give you VertigoThe sun’s still burning and dust will blowHoney scars I’ll keep you nearOur blood is gold nothing to fearWe killed the time and I love you dearA kiss of wine we’ll disappearThe last of the last particlesDivisible invisibleThe last of the last particlesDivisible invisible
The second video for Splitting the Atom was directed by French animator Edouard Salier. He would later direct the video for Atlas Air, which served as a prequel to his original video for Splitting The Atom.
There were two different promo videos made for Splitting The Atom. The first video (i.e. the bull fight video) directed by Baillie Walsh was released online on the 25th September 2009, just a few weeks before the release of the Splitting the Atom E.P. Baillie Walsh was the acclaimed music video director who had directed all of Massive Attack’s Blue Lines era videos. This marked his first time working with Massive Attack again since 1992.
The second promo video for Atlas Air was directed and animated by Edouard Salier, and debuted online on the 3rd February 2010. Even though it came first, it is intended to be seen as a sequel to the the director’s future Massive Attack collaboration on the Atlas Air video.
3D on Baillie Walsh’s “Bull Fight†video for Splitting The Atom – “When Baillie Walsh suggested the idea of filming a bull fight, it was obviously an issue we found difficult and troubling, because we don’t agree with that sort of torture or cruelty. So watching it was hard work and it was very far from an enjoyable experience, but we were suddenly in the same place as everyone else watching and removed from the song and getting the same impression and the same emotional response everyone else was getting from it, which was quite strange.†[Heligoland Promo EMI Interview DVD – January 2010]
Edouard Salier on how his video should be interpreted –“I don’t like the word ‘political’ – I would say this is a ‘committed’ film. If you refer to it as a political piece, it could be assimilated into propaganda and that is not the point of the film. I make films for the purpose of provoking a reaction from the audience, but I don’t intend to convince people of my views. I just want to lead the viewer in a world he never experienced before. I want to shake them out (with their unconscious and their guts). I want them to question themselves.†[Pitchfork Magazine – February 2010]
Directed by Edouard Salier; produced by Scream Park; post-production by Digital District