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. Today’s video is ‘Studies in Paralysis’ a music video from Manic Street Preachers.
Welcome back to video of the week! Today, we’re looking at ‘Studies in Paralysis’ from Manic Street Preachers – a brand new track from the era of Know Your Enemy. The song had remained uncovered until now – it wasn’t included on the original 2001 release -but the band have remastered it and shared alongside a music video. This follows the release of another lost track, ‘Rosebud’, which came out in July.
Music video director, Kieran Evans, describes how the whole thing came about:
“It started with an email from [Nicky] Wire (it always does!). Would I be up for working on visualising two unheard tracks from the ‘Know Your Enemy’ sessions that were to feature in the beautifully expanded and reworked re-issue of the album? Of course I would! Both ‘Rosebud’ and ‘Studies In Paralysis’ landed an hour later and were stunning and took my breath away. Fuck me…They left these off the original album…what were they thinking???!!!”
“An hour later, another email landed from him – ‘I’ll send some DV footage of the Miloco sessions up to you’. But this footage was very different from previous recording sessions he’d filmed. There was a seriousness to everyone’s behaviour and recording performances. There was no frivolity or funny off camera ‘moments’. The atmosphere felt intense, you could feel the pressure they were under […] Cutting this footage to ‘Studies in Paralysis’ was a task. I went through many iterations and edits to get the right “feel” to reflect what is a truly glorious song… Thankfully…I think we definitely got there in the end.”
You can watch the music video for ‘Studies in Paralysis’ from the Manic Street Preachers below.
