Die ek – new music video out

Die ek – new music video out for single "Dapper Huis"

 

For the last couple of months, since the release of the title track Die ek. Die ek has been working on music and a video for Dapper Huis. The next dream in the series. 

To be a child is to be vulnerable… When I was young I used to stare into a dark corner in my room. As I was falling asleep I had the feeling that there was something there in the darkness. Hiding. Waiting for me to fall asleep. Sometimes my dreams would take me to the most hellishly terrifying places. I woke soaked in sweat, overwhelmed by fear. Heart pounding. Body burning. I would hold my breath and listen. I would switch on the light to see that there is nothing there. I would turn my back on the dark corner and tell myself that there was nothing there. That it was all just in my mind. The courage to look into the darkness for longer, came later in life, but the scares of being so utterly uncourageous still linger. It stares at me from a dark corner waiting until I fall asleep.

 

Composed, arranged, and Recorded by Riaan le Roux 

Mixed and Mastered by André Hurter (Montana Studios) and Riaan le Roux

Performed by Duncan Potgieter; Dylan du Toit and Riaan le Roux.

 

Some notes on the Inspiration behind Dapper Huis.

Dapper Huis came out of a need to be courageous again. To look fear in the eye. It was initially based on a song that Riaan listen to as a child – called: Dapper Muis. "I wanted to go back into my childhood and see where it started… Be there again and in doing so something would change". 

The lyrics of Dapper Muis depict a mouse walking through a house singing about how courageous he is and that he doesn’t fear anything or anyone. He is confronted by a woman that points out many things that he, in fact, is very afraid of. Many things are mentioned. By the end of the song, she calls him a liar for continuing to insist that he is unafraid. The premise that he was hiding his fears to make himself seem courageous spoke to me even at that early age’. ‘We hide our fears every day. ‘In time we suppress it’. Carl Jung the Swiss psychiatrist spoke of Enantiodromia the "emergence of the unconscious opposite in the course of time".(In Dapperhuis the ascending line based on a whole-tone scale signifies this shadow opposite coming to consciousness.) To face this shadow is sometimes uncomfortable, other times it is confusing or even horrifying, that is why I suppress it. To become an adult capable of caring for others and the world I need to be courageous when facing the darkness within me and compassionate when I recognize it. 

 

Composing and Recording the song 

The preproduction for the song was done back in 2016-2017 by Riaan. The first half of the song uses the same chord progression as Dapper Muis and the first couple of notes suggest the melody. Halfway through Dapper Huis the harmony changes to a whole tone scale based on 3 triadic major chord structures. The first triad sharing a root with the Dapper Muis progression. This whole-tone sound has been widely used to create scenes of horror and dissonance. Dapper Huis is also through composed, this means that there are no sections that are repeated exactly. This is the image of a life that is ever changing. The lyrics progress from the past into the present at the end of the chorus and into the future with the last section: ‘Ons is ewig-"We are eternal"’ Interestingly the lyrics were not finished until the beginning of this year. The song was recorded at Die ek HQ in Beckett st. It took many months of refining and reevaluation before Riaan approached André for the final mix-down and Mastering of the song.

 

Recording the video

The concept and idea of the video grew out of long conversations between Riaan, Werner, and Dylan. "This process was difficult, but also rewarding as we got to talk about our fears and how we experience the emergence of the shadow in our lives. After much research and deliberation, countless conversations, shooting finally started one cloudy day late in August. A manifestation of a dream." The video was shot and edited by Riaan and then handed over to Heleen van Tonder for final touches. Dylan du Toit and his brother Jayden do an excellent job drawing us into their world.

 

Die ek is:
Riaan le Roux (Vocals, guitar, piano);
Dylan du Toit (bass);
Werner Breedt (guitar, backing vocals, triggers);
Duncan Potgieter (Drums)

https://www.facebook.com/dieekband