Swim and Sleep (Like a Shark) is a song created by the musical band Unknown Mortal Orchestra (UMO). The video provided to accompany the song was directed and designed by Becky Sloan and Joe Pelling, creators of Don't Hug Me I'm Scared.
A man uses binoculars to gawk at a woman while she is in the nude and masturbate to the sight while in the safety of his home. However, the woman catches at him in the act, and now he now feels ashamed and decides to go to a therapist for help.
At the end a calendar is shown with June 19 encircled as a birthday and contains a picture of tree balloons in the colors red, yellow and green, the same colors as the main characters. (the palette also contains the three colors red, yellow and green.) The balloons and the birthday marked on the calendar play into the theme of parties, and the horse portraits and horses in general also frequently occur in both the web series and TV series of Don't Hug Me I'm Scared (the horse puppet seen in the video was even reused as a statue for DHMIS.) The trees have a similar design as in Episode 3 and the portrait of the naked women bending over a tree looks very similar to a portrait of the same nature occurring in Episode 2 of the web series. Lastly, the diamond patterned wallpaper in the therapist's office is similar to the background in a portrait of Yellow Guy and Roy. From: https://donthugme.fandom.com/wiki/Swim_and_Sleep_(Like_a_Shark)
Ever since it was released late last year with its disturbing image of a bleeding baby’s face, I’ve been bopping my head to Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s “Swim and Sleep (Like a Shark)”, the single to their sophomore album, ‘II’, revolves around a very catchy guitar lick that is complemented by a driven drum – it’s a good listen. Well now the song has a video to accompany it, and it features masturbating puppets (yes, masturbating puppets). The self-pleasing puppets are only a small (but significant and totally memorable) part of the story of a character going through the motions of self discovery. The creative team did a fine job of making this puppet world come to life – colorful, animated, and detailed. I didn’t expect the group to couple “Swim and Sleep (Like a Shark)” with puppets, and with it dealing with adult situations we’re treated to a twisted music video. From: https://whiteboardjournal.com/blog/unknown-mortal-orchestra-swim-and-sleep-like-a-shark-music-video/
