Live Gallery: Spirit of the Beehive

In her excellent Pitchfork review, Sophie Kemp describes Spirit of the Beehive’s ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH as being “lit by that same, terrifying, phosphorescent glow” of a staticky television set cycling through never-ending advertisements. With its warped guitars and suffocating synths, it’s the sound of technology breaking, noisy electricity spilling out from the screen and liquifying your brain.

When we shot the Philly band’s set at Pitchfork Music Fest, we wanted to capture that same anxious energy, that sonic and psychic breakdown. We started by shooting with two diametrically opposite cameras: a simple analog 35mm point-and-shoot and an iPhone 12 Pro Max.

The film camera, which at one point was mass-produced, is now an aesthetic choice — it colors the band with a grainy, nostalgic patina, with some beautiful blurs and happy accidents. The iPhone 12 Pro Max is considered to have one of the best portable cameras accessible to the public, rendering every frame in crisp clarity.

To create these collages, we printed out our iPhone shots and rephotographed them on a Sony mirrorless with a vintage lens, which we then paired with the developed and scanned 35mm film, ultimately blurring the line between digital and analog. Sound convoluted? Yeah, we know. But so is ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH — it’s a gorgeously complex haze of sound and texture that’s sometimes difficult to parse, but always easy to enjoy.

GEAR USED TO DOCUMENT THIS LIVE SHOW AT PITCHFORK FESTIVAL, 2022.

SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE // WEB // SPOTIFY // INSTAGRAM