Why is that Scandinavian bands have delivered so many excellent albums over the past few years? Is it something in the water there? The clean air? Or is musical talent just better conserved at freezing temperatures? Whatever it is, Wildbirds & Peacedrums have delivered another contribution in this line of outstanding Nordic albums with their sophomore album The Snake. The Swedish duo, consisting of Mariam Wallentin on vocals and Andreas Werliin on anything that can be used as percussion, met only four years ago, when they were both studying musical improvisation at the University of Gothenburg. And if that doesn’t sound exciting enough for you, than I can also inform you of the Jazz Act of the Year award they won with their first album, Heartcore. Interesting at the very least, no?
Those jazz influences are most obvious in the vocals of Mariam Wallentin, which at times are even slightly reminiscent of jazz legend Nina Simone (and any similarity, however small, with Nina Simone is an enormous compliment). The albums opens with ‘Island’, a brooding track solely based on mysteriously sounding vocals which immediately set the atmosphere for the rest of the album. With ‘There is No Light’, which was also released as a single, the percussion joins in and causes an abrupt tempo acceleration. The track is an excellent example of the aforementioned jazz influences, with Mariam showing us that vocals can be used as instrumentation as well as any other old instrument.
But it’s not all experimental: ‘Chain of Steel’ is much more of a pop song than the previous tracks with an obvious chorus and melody line. The same goes for ‘So Soft So Pink’, after a short reprise of intro track ‘Islands’. Even with a minimal amount of instrumentation they manage to create a full sound, mainly through Mariam’s amazing vocals, which is again exemplified on ‘Places’, in which they successfully return to jazz and blues.
The album is a perfect balance between more experimental, jazzy jam sessions and tracks that could be best labelled as pop. The Swedish duo show that you don’t need much to create something that sounds absolutely great; less is more certainly applies here. Just take a listen to ‘Great Lines’ or closer ‘My Heart’, which might just be the two best tracks on there. The latter contains the great lines: “Don’t run / You know I’m lost without your rhythm”, which again show the beautiful simplicity and depth of this album. Best thing of all: to celebrate the album’s first year anniversary, the duo are coming to London, and bringing a twelve piece choir in their wake, to perform this piece of music live.
Released 13 April 2009 on the Leaf Label and live at the Bishopsgate Institute on 15 May 2010
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