This is the third video by Alasdair Brotherston and Jock Mooney for the Canadian-based Tom Fun Orchestra, and after the award-winning work for the band's previous album You Will Land With A Thud, this one for the title track from their latest album Earthworm Heart has all of Alasdair + Jock's distinctive style.

But it also has a chilling aspect, and what initially seems like a child-friendly animation eventually takes a more grisly turn, that's far more suitable for Halloween...

The idea for the short came from Hoffmann’s Struwwelpeter, The Story Of The Wild Huntsman, and Jock's beautiful illustrative approach has echoes of Wind in the Willows and Beatrix Potter. And it's all about a cat that goes fishing in the rain, and stirs the spirits of the vengeful worm ghosts...

In this case, Jock provided the illustrations and art direction, and Alasdair the direction, and they were working on it at the same time as their short Gelato Go Home! and the lyric video for Lily Allen’s Air Balloon – and before they created their MVA-nominated 'animated album' animation for Coldplay. In contrast to these works Earthworm Heart has a quiet palette and a more claustrophobic atmosphere.  

It was also the first time they created an animation entirely within the computer – an arduous yet rewarding process. "The experience and skills we learnt creating Earthworm Heart were invaluable when we created the animated album for Coldplay shortly after,” says Jock.

“Rather than the traditional reversal of fortunes story we wanted to create a narrative that was more complex and less clear cut as to who was the hero or villain,” says Alasdair. You certainly get to find out why the collective noun for crows is 'murder'...