Close your eyes, take a deep breath.
You hear the movement of a fast pace river near by, the gust of the wind and then the beat of a deer-hide drum. All of a sudden, you are gazing straight into the eyes of a huge formidable brown Bear across the river. He sees you, smells you, but walks on as if to give you the right to be where you are.
The sense of nature, life, death, fear, reverence and wonder comes at me as I settle in on this journey through a Norwegian landscape and soundscape created by the incredible composer, Einar Selvik.
’Birna’ is the 6th studio album by Wardruna, and represents the voice of the bear.
A calling for humanity to get a better grasp on nature, to return to the woods and find our path once more.
The album has beautiful pockets of nature at every turn. From beautiful bird song, to crashing waves to the movement of the trees and trickling of the lakes. A meditative state is felt from one moment to the next. Each time I close my eyes I am swept up and rushed through the woods, almost seeing from the eyes of the bear. Pacing through the forest, back in time.
Einar Selvik takes his inspirations directly from the forests and cities in which he travels. During long walks within the woods he gathers sounds in his mind to take home with him, as if foraging, but instead of collecting berries and mushrooms, he’s collecting the sounds of nature and then re composing them to create his art. When traveling through larger cities Einar still takes inspiration with the ‘lack of nature’. “On the other hand, it’s not only nature, sometimes it can be the lack of nature. Like when I am in a big city. That can be an inspiration, somehow it helps me to see nature more clearly as well”
The title track ‘Birna’, is accompanied by a breath taking video which was filmed in Norway’s Rondane National Park and was directed by Tuukka Koski. The video showcases some of the incredible beauty of this country. We also get a glimpse of some of the old instruments which Wardruna use in the creation of their art.
Not only is Einar Selvik an incredible song writer, composer, musician and singer, but he is also the creator of most of the instruments we see being used by Wardruna. Preserving the ways of his culture, Einar found just a small amount of people who were still skilled in the ways of this craft and began to design the instruments by searching through the ruins in order to re create history.
‘At that point when I started, there was hardly anyone working with the old instruments and the information about them was really difficult to get hold of. To make some of the instruments, I had to make them myself. Luckily, there was a few people left making them to help. In the the last five to ten years it has started to grow and people are starting to make these instruments again which is a good thing’.
Birna is a magical leap into the depths of the mind of Einar Selvik. Engulfed in the incredible sounds, I’m removed from my own reality and transported deep into the subconscious to experience a wild natural state. A feeling we have all perhaps buried deep within us due to the ever changing landscape of our world. Evolution has weakened us in some way and we can no longer walk the path of the bear. The incredible beast who once showed us the way through the land, our guide to edible plants and berries, a creature we both feared and admired.
This album speaks of our lost sister of the forest, the bear, who has entered a stage of permanent hibernation. But what this album has evoked in me is perhaps that we are the ones who have fallen into a permanent hibernation. One in which surrounds us in concrete, rather then the forest.
‘Birna’ track list:
TRACKLIST
1. Hertan [video]
2. Birna
3. Ljos til Jord
4. Dvaledraumar
5. Jord til Ljos
6. Himinndotter [video]
7. Hibjørnen
8. Skuggehesten
9. Tretale
10. Lyfjaberg [video]
PRE-ORDERS FOR BOTH ARE NOW AVAILABLE
Wardruna will take their Mammoth world tour to the stages of the 3Olympia, Dublin on March 23rd. A performance not to be missed.
This masterpiece of an album is awarded 8 out of 10 réaltaí.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 8 out of 10.
Reviewer Carl Foran – @carlforanphotography