Radiohead and Hans Zimmer remake “Bloom” for Blue Planet II

Radiohead and Hans Zimmer have released “(ocean) bloom”, an orchestral version of “Bloom” from The King of Limbs, made for the BBC's Blue Planet II. It had its first play on BBC 6 Music on Wednesday 27 September, after Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood and Zimmer talked to Matt Everitt about it.

Yorke told Everitt that “Bloom” came from the original Blue Planet, which he took in half asleep on the sofa at seven in the morning. This was me lying on the sofa trying to go back to sleep when I've been up too late with my son³, he said.

His new vocal was recorded with the BBC Concert Orchestra. Noisey wrote that swelling strings take the place of the original's skittering percussion. Zimmer wrote the score for the series. When the BBC announced the pairing on 14 September, Yorke said it had been liberating to hear how Zimmer worked the series' sound into the song.

The same day as the radio play, Radiohead posted a five-minute prequel to the series with the new “Bloom” under David Attenborough's narration. It has spitting dolphins and yeti crabs. Blue Planet II is due on BBC One later this year and on BBC America.

What stayed with Yorke longest from the first series was the deep-sea footage of creatures nobody had known existed. He told Everitt that the idea of discovering life that humanity doesn't know about, is to me one of the most profound concepts.³