by Sacha Kingston-Wayne
Pre Nup’s recently released debut album, Oh Well, is a consistently impressive work which gets great mileage out of the fear that irony is ruining all of our lives. Oh Well’s songs, which often center on petty arguments and feelings of inadequacy, are grounded in quick, fun melodies. The music video for “The Grudge”, which premieres below, perfectly captures the experience of having a good time while knowing that something isn’t quite right. The song itself is pretty great too, a catchy jangle-pop number that would have fit in well on the legendary C86 cassette compilation.
The video follows a man who is forced to cope with the paranoia which can come with being alone in busy public spaces. Sara Jean Hughes, drummer for Pre Nup and director of the clip, had this to say about it: “I wanted to showcase the nostalgia of an amusement park, but with a sense of foreboding dread. As a result, the video is a combination of familiar lights and dizzying paranoia. Marsden spends the video trying to make the most of his surroundings, but he’s constantly looking over his shoulder. In the end we find out why.”
It’s the first great piece of filmmaking since Adventureland about how an amusement park at night is a beautiful and anxiety-inducing place to be. Pre Nup frontman Josiah Hughes (and Sara’s husband, not brother, as they have recently had to make clear on Twitter) makes a brief appearance as a mysterious character who causes trouble for our hero.