Dum Dum Girls - Rimbaud Eyes

What this video is

Released January 28, 2014 on Sub Pop Records as part of the Too True album, 'Rimbaud Eyes' marks a deliberate stylistic pivot for Dum Dum Girls away from the band's Phil Spector-inflected garage-pop origins toward a neon-goth, synthesizer-heavy post-punk sound. The song draws directly on 19th-century French Symbolist poet Arthur Rimbaud, adapting select stanzas of his poetry into lyrical form — situating the track…

Why it matters

A key artifact of mid-2010s shoegaze revival and neon-goth indie rock on Sub Pop. The video's cross-media collaboration — live action, cel animation, literary referencing, and musician-as-director — exemplifies the DIY auteur model of early-2010s indie music video production, while its literary…

The director

New Zealand-born singer, songwriter, and creative director based in Los Angeles. Active since 2008, releasing four studio albums spanning dream pop, shoegaze, post-punk, and synth-pop. Long-time creative collaborator with Dum Dum Girls frontwoman Dee Dee…