Wildbirds & Peacedrums - Rivers

Wildbirds & Peacedrums, that’s Mariam Wallentin and her husband Andreas Werliin from Sweden, met at uni, like a lot of bands do. But having studied musical improvisation their career didn’t lead them through dirty clubs and pubs, they went straight to Jazz Festivals.

Previous albums ‘Heartcore’ and ‘The Snake’ got critical acclaim, the duo’s music was compared to Björk’s, and the Free Jazz community seemed to have found their new darlings. Their new album ‘Rivers’ however, compiled of previously released EPs ‘Retina’ and ‘Iris’, is half sacred music mixed with folk-like lyrics and drums, and half experimental, Caribbean percussion pop.

Despite being connected by their watery themes, both parts of the album reflect a completely different atmosphere. The Schola Cantorum Reykjavík Chamber Choir, which is prominent on ‘Retina’, makes songs like opener ‘Bleed Like There Was No Other Flood’ and ‘Fight For Me’ sound like old Gregorian Choirs got sampled and remixed (fittingly all songs were recorded in an old Icelandic church), whilst ‘Under Land And Over See’ appears like the soundtrack to a sinister movie.

The contrast to ‘Retina’ couldn’t be bigger when ‘Iris’ starts with the tinkle of a steel drum, which replaces the choir as most prominent feature. The songs sound easier, brighter and more harmonic than everything on ‘Retina’. After ‘The Wave’ and ‘The Drop’, ‘The Course’ drips, seemingly getting faster, into ‘The Lake’, till the album ends with ‘The Well’, getting to a proper finale and making the second half of the album one entity.

However, and despite Werliin stating in the press release that “The lyrics on both EPs are connected to one another; the whole idea of the sound is worked out to build up this special atmosphere.”, putting both EPs together to form an album may not have been the best idea. Of course there’s something interesting, fascinating about the contrast between the dark and sinister on ‘Retina’ and the bright and floating on ‘Iris’, but all concepts and connections aside, it sounds a bit stuck together.