Review: Wardruna ‘Birna’
Wardruna are more of a musical collective than a band, a group of like-minded individuals whose talents to bring an ancient folklore to life in the most authentic way possible is second to none. There have been a number of Viking folk bands who have appeared in the wake of Wardruna‘s catapulting to fame and relevancy, but all bow their heads in allegiance when the masters return with new offerings from the gods. Birna is the group’s newest record, and it is out now through Music For Nations. It is a tale of the bear, nature’s ancient guardian who now sleeps and the world is falling because of it.

Hertan leads us into the woods with that hypnotising, droning clarion call, tribal drumming reaching new levels of mesmerising even for Wardruna, echoing vocal chants swell and ebb amongst the trees. Wardruna‘s work is an amazing tapestry of thudding, propulsive pieces that invigorate and enliven the old spirits within us, as well as haunting odes to the past and the world we used to have. Not in any twee, LARP-ing or subtly racist way, but a real desire to reanimate our roots and our past to a modern world bereft of such a connection to nature.
Einar Selvik, the mastermind behind the project, has always made music that feels cinematic despite its introspective nature. The vast nature of Birna is a great example of this. Birna means ‘she-bear’ in Old Norse, and the whole record is almost an ode, a call to the ancient spirits that guarded our natural world in the past. Wardruna‘s musical evolution here is also of note; the female vocals are more prominent, and the songs seem to have a grander feel than the more contemplative pieces on previous records.
Traditional instruments are woven into a more modern soundscape structure, and while Selvik‘s vocals are as rich as ever, they feel sparser and more impactful because of it. The back half of the record in particular keeps us all grounded in reality, so when war does finally come. Dvaledraumar may be his Mona Lisa, a fifteen-minute haunting folk odyssey that plumbs the depths of ambient darkness, ominous rumbles underneath trembling melody and ghostly vocals. It definitely feels more of a primal ambient song than the usual folk, but the atmosphere is special.
Birna feels like a rebirth for Wardruna, a new sound that takes their vibrant folk into a new atavistic place…
Throughout Birna there is a lot of nature recordings, another newer touch that helps to place each song in a world that is alive and real, not just of our imagination. Hibjørnen and Lyfjaberg are classic Wardruna though, showing that this evolution of their sound has not stripped away anything of their previous form, if anything, it is a melding of the old and the new
Birna is the kind of record our world needs; a powerful and poignant reminder that our natural world is far more important and influential than we’ll ever know, and by losing our connection to it, our humanity disappears too. The bear is a perfect symbol of this, once feared and respected, as predator and prey it could provide and take away, but it is part of something we are all slowly losing.
Einar Selvik once said that he searched for songs in trees, in water, in stone, and while we may not all be musicians, it is a technique that maybe we can learn from for our own self-worth and growth. Birna feels like a rebirth for Wardruna, a new sound that takes their vibrant folk into a new atavistic place, and I will be along for this journey. A brooding, atmospheric masterpiece and one of the finest records you will hear this year.
Label: Music For Nations
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Scribed by: Sandy Williamson