Exclusive: Danny Frankel, Victoria Williams and Doug Wieselman Share Video for “Right as Rain”

Danny Frankel, Victoria Williams and Doug Wieselman have released a video for their song “Right as Rain,” debuting today here at Paste.

The video, directed by mimiuniverse, “is a static statement about global climate change,” Frankel says. “The Rain segment in the video is a total of 15 minutes of rain we captured in the desert.” It features grainy home footage of a wind chime dangling in a rainstorm, as well as closeups of a roaring river.

The trio are all longtime friends and accomplished musicians. Williams, who appeared on the cover of the first-ever issue of Paste, first came to prominence in the ‘90s, also garnering the support of her peers after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Artists such as Pearl Jam and Lou Reed came to her aid with a benefit CD, which led to the creation of the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund, a charity that aids professional musicians in need of health care. Frankel is a percussionist who is renowned for his experimental instruments and approaches, and Wieselman is a jazz reedist and veteran session player who has worked with Lou Reed, Iron & Wine, and Yo La Tengo.

The trio’s song is a meditative folk spiritual on the power—both destructive and healing—of water in all its forms. Williams’ husky vocals run slipshod over Frankel’s clattering percussion and Wieselman’s howling reed lines. Williams sings of “a hundred year storm, passing through.” The result is a song that sounds like both the wind chime in the video and the storm brewing behind it.

“Right as Rain” is off the trio’s album Roofrack for Ralph, a tribute to their friend Ralph Carney, a multi-instrumentalist with whom they collaborated often. Carney died in December of 2017.

Watch the trio’s “Right as Rain” video below, hear Paste archival audio from a 1994 Williams show further down and listen to Roofrack for Ralph via the band’s Bandcamp page here.