London//Bahrain psych/funk four-piece Flamingods have returned with their new single “Dreams (On The Strip)“, and its accompanying video.
Recorded in Atlanta with Grammy award-winning producer Ben H. Allen (Animal Collective, Deerhunter, M.I.A), The track signifies a new era for the quartet, and marks their first new music since the release of fourth studio album Levitation in 2019.
Commenting on the track, Kamal Rasool shares:
The song is about grief, but also about the power of dreaming and the journey the band has been on for over a decade plus. When I lost my Dad to Covid 3 years ago, I started having surrealist lucid dreams about him that felt both poetic and nonsensical. It felt like he was trying to reach me in these dreams, and so the song became this platform to channel that grief whilst releasing it into a euphoric void.
The accompanying video arrives as a sun-baked fever dream, filled with vivid animations by the band’s own Charles Prest. It was directed by rising Indian, LA-based director Tanmay Chowdhary.
The video also stars LA-based, Lebanese-American belly dancer and skater Alia Mohamed, who carries the narrative before crescendoing into a stunning belly dance performance at the song’s peak.
Director Tanmay Chowdhary explains: “We wanted to design a visual aesthetic that is reminiscent of the 80s and 90s, a time when Kamal was growing up in Bahrain. We used old VHS cameras and combined it with a more modern lens in capturing Alia’s talent, who like the band is an artist with complex roots.”
Kamal adds: “The video’s pomegranate imagery is a reference to the name of the Bahraini village my dad was born in (Ras Rumman / رأس الرمان) where Pomegranates were once cultivated. The motif is our way of paying tribute to him, alongside featuring some of his belongings like his boombox, binoculars, sunglasses and clothes.”
Grab the track here and watch the video below.
Flamingods Upcoming Tour Dates
21 July – Isle of Wight | Ventnor Fringe Festival
22 July – Suffolk | Latitude Festival
02 Sept – Manchester | Manchester Psych Festival
03 Sept – Kent | Smugglers Festival
06 Oct – Guernsey | St James – headline
04 Nov – Margate | Where Else? – headline
08 Nov – Cambridge | The Portland Arms – headline
09 Nov – London | Scala – headline
16 Nov – Birmingham | The Hare & Hounds – headline
17 Nov – Sheffield | Yellow Arch Studio – headline
18 Nov – Stroud | Brunel Goods Shed – headline
