Badly Drawn Boy - Year Of The Rat

What this video is

Released in 2004 as a single from One Plus One Is One — Badly Drawn Boy's fourth studio album and final release for XL Recordings — 'Year of the Rat' appeared during a particularly fertile period for UK indie-pop. Damon Gough had by then established himself as a Mercury Prize-winning eccentric (The Hour of Bewilderbeast, 2000) and film composer (About a Boy, 2002). The use of an animated video directed by Monkmus —…

Why it matters

Represents a key intersection of UK indie-folk songwriting and American independent animation in the music video format. The video exemplifies the early-2000s trend of commissioning bespoke animated visuals for emotionally introspective alternative pop, a practice that would accelerate with the…

The director

Monkmus (Ken Wong) is a Maryland-born, Los Angeles-based animation director, illustrator, and filmmaker. His music video work spans Death Cab for Cutie, Badly Drawn Boy, Mogwai, Los Campesinos!, and Kid Koala. He has won Best Music Video at the SXSW Film…