This is Video of the Week from Wales Arts Review. We’ll be showcasing some of the best art in Wales with a new video shared every week. From music to drama and everything in between, videos will not be limited by medium. This week we’re taking a look at the new music video ‘Pain Down the Drain’ from fourpiece band, Das Koolies.
If ever there was a summer for releasing a song which has rain as it’s main theme, 2023 would seem to be the one. Discussing the choice of topic, the band themselves explain that “the main theme is about rain. Living in the UK we are all experts on the subject. It’s an attempt at a rain-inspired love song that failed, turning out bitter and melancholic instead. It tries to address our obsession with nostalgia, ending up like a messed-up version of ABBA”.
For those already familiar with Das Koolies’ music, the comparison to ABBA may seem like an unexpected one. The band, made up of four members of Super Furry Animals,
Bringing orchestral samples into contact with fuzzed guitars and floating mantric vocals over an incessant, elbow-swinging groove, ‘Pain Down The Drain’ turns the band’s brake-less juggernaut into an avenue where 70’s, flare-swinging abandon sits on the knee of modern technology. Turning to meteorological inspirations, the band overshot their target of writing about romance in the rain, finding accidental gratification in the opposite.
Giving in to the elements, ‘Pain Down The Drain’ takes inspiration from sidewards rain, misty rain and acid rain in a just over three minute, glitter ball-lit stomp that turned bitter when all they wanted to write about was love. An energetic premise, accompanied by a hypnotic video courtesy of Edwin Burdis (collaborator with Arctic Monkeys, Blossoms and The Coral), which captures the frustration of trying to write a love song in the pouring rain.
‘Pain Down the Drain’ is available to stream now, from all the usual places. Das Koolies’ debut album, DK.01, will be released in September 2023 and is available for pre-order now.
