Bittereinder have released a brand new single and video as their latest offering, entitled “Recommended Playlist”.
Featuring a similar experimental sonic space to their previous single Karongeluk (released in August 2019), the song clearly demonstrates a new palette of sound for Bittereinder. They tend not to get stuck in a particular sound for too long.
Their new body of work, set for release in 2020, is a continuation in the evolution of sound that the band have developed over the last decade.
Lyricist Jaco van der Merwe explains “Recommended Playlist”
“Recommended Playlist is about staring deep into your wine glass and seeing the singularity smiling back at you. It’s about realising that we are all completely dependent on machines, but our nanobot immortality project will probably fail.”
Already written in 2017, Bittereinder descirbes the song as telling the story of growing older together as a band, and interfacing with reality together and as individuals.
The song is about the reality of using words like ‘interface’ instead of ‘relationship’ and features a strong chorus combined with intertextual conscious lyrics. With lots of recognisable elements, “Recommended Playlist” traverses a new rhythmic and melodic pathway.
An algorithmic earworm, ultimately the single is a fresh new sound and a 2019 version of Bittereinder; it encapsulates many of the themes they have been preoccupied with for the past five years.
Directed, shot and edited by Louis Minnaar, the video for “Recommended Playlist” is an interwoven sequence depicting the start and consumption of the music with the band being the creators and also the audience thereof.
A bizarre, yet beautiful visual experience, it becomes quite abstract and aims at leaving the viewer with an open ended interpretation to what is happening. The idea is to depict ourselves as interwoven with technology and the influence it has on us.
Watch this music video for “Recommended Playlist” below:
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