The post-pandemic reunion of one of South Africa’s best and favourite indie exports has been a gradual one, but it’s all been coming to fruition over the last year for Beatenberg. Ahead of their highly-anticipated new album The Great Fire of Beatenberg, which is due to drop on the 5th of April, the whimsical trio just released “Worth More” – a fresh-faced love song wrapped in everything we love most about the band.
The track favours punchy percussion and the Matthew quintessentially enigmatic lyricism. Overt adoration soaks the track – “I could treat you well / give all of myself / but you’re worth more than that.” Pairing poetry with flutey, flighty textures which are as synonymous with Beatenberg as the mark they’ve made on the scene.
But to really get an insight into what these guys have been up to, they just dropped a vibrant little European Tour Documentary, chronicling their first Euro tour in 2023. It’s shot by Javier Lara and captures everything from pavement shenanigans to backstage jams, dusky-lit stages and heaving crowds, to the frivolities of everyday life on tour – like the cheap thrill of doing laundry, attempting to steam iron shirts with a kettle, and a Bob Ross comfort watch on a day off.
It’s a beautifully captured insight into their time back on the road, carrying the essence of who they are with a sort of casual polish. And you’re wondering what their must have items are on tour look no further. Ross is a man of creature comforts, a dressing gown, eye mask and ear plugs sort of guy. Matthew admits to an inordinate stack of unread emotional support novels. While Robin keeps things simple with a well-worn Kindle.
It’s quite something to have watched these guys grow from strength to strength for the better part of a decade. Their break in 2018 saw them bring something fresh to the mix when they reconciled, and both their sound and their band relationships seem honed and chiselled, always familiar and yet more considered.
Feature pic supplied by artist
