Dum Dum Girls - Coming Down

What this video is

Released in 2012 as the official video for the lead single from Dum Dum Girls' second album Only in Dreams (Sub Pop, 2011), 'Coming Down' emerged during an era of renewed critical interest in female-fronted indie rock with shoegaze and dream-pop lineages. The song gained significant secondary cultural life when it was prominently featured in the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black circa 2015, introducing it to a…

Why it matters

A key artifact of the early-2010s dream-pop and post-punk revival, the video exemplifies the era's rejection of high-production-value spectacle in favor of emotional austerity. Its in-band directorial origins (Malia James as both bassist and director) underscore the DIY self-sufficiency emblematic…

The director

Born and raised in Texas, Malia James earned a degree in Film and Psychology from Emerson University before relocating to Los Angeles and then London. She toured internationally as bassist for Dum Dum Girls and Marnie Stern before transitioning fully to…