Beatenberg - “The Lighthouse of Alexandria”

SXSW 2023 - OEB Score: 7; Popularity Index: 7

Pairs Well With…Vampire Weekend, Dave Matthews Band, Panda Bear

Pretty and cinematic, Beatenberg’s songs are built around pastoral landscapes, finding amble room for Afropop percussion and melodies to give their music both depth and groove. The latest result is the South African trio’s 2022 EP On the Way to Beatenberg, a record built on quick, acoustic licks, chamber folk accompaniment, and hamonized vocal fit into sturdy boxes. While often pensive, Beatenberg has danceable moments too, using polyrhythms in the same manner as an electro-pop producer, fading in and out to suit the direction of each song. A decade into their career, Beatenberg’s experience clearly plays into the tightness of the band’s instrumentation and making complexity sound easy. If this EP strikes, there’s two full-lengths and more in their back catalog, The Hanging Gardens of Beatenberg and 12 Views of Beatenberg, to hear a sound both consistent and broadened over time. (Kevin McStravick)