Bittereinder: Behind the Scenes
“One characteristic of dance music is that it awakens a barbaric instinct, the kind that gets hushed to sleep in real life.” Jaco van der Merwe
The behind-the-scenes of Bittereinder’s upcoming documentary features LT (Louis Minnaar), P-Dollar (Peach van Pletzen) and Jaco van der Merwe (errr, Jaco van der Merwe) retreating to lush, mystical, internetless Mpumalanga to record their highly anticipated fourth album: ‘Dans tot die Dood.’
In July 2015, for the first time in six years, the forces have allowed their busy schedules to collide. Jaco says they’ve never really been a band because they all have full-time jobs, and working in an electronic medium meant they were able to work via digital correspondence. This time however, they only used computers to create their distinctive brand of electronic music.
Their music is far more than a succession of electronic beats; it has human energy that gives the Bittereinder sound a raw, almost primitive feel. Peach says that this album is different from the previous album ‘Skerm’ in the sense that it’s lighter, more tongue-in-cheek, and more dance-friendly. A piece written by Virginia Woolf perfectly describes the feeling of their album, expressing how dance music has the ability to carry us away and almost consume us in the end.
The behind-the-scenes documentary includes beautiful footage of the trio being inspired by nature, throwing frisbees, playing with Jerry the giraffe, and generally getting to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses through an immersion in band chemistry. This beautifully filmed production also demonstrates the perks of having an acclaimed filmmaker (Louis Minnaar) as part of the band.
I for one am extremely excited to watch the full documentary, and this peek inside their one week get-away and creative process has encouraged me to discover everything there is to know about Bittereinder. You can start with the links below. For more information about their previous albums and the members themselves , visit their website and to stream their music visit Soundcloud.
