(Our Norway-based contributor Chile prepared the following extensive discussion of Wardruna‘s just-released new album Birna.)
Bears have been a constant presence in our minds, stories, and myths from the times undreamed of. It was those first encounters between our ancestors and the majestic dwellers of the forest that shaped our very understanding of nature. For the bears, so perfectly aligned with the changes of the seasons, were like a beacon that shone its light on our wandering hearts and thus setting us on a path of revelation, a path from which we have strayed away in our complacency. Time has come again to take the road less traveled and return to the shade of the trees and the rustling of the leaves.
If there is one band in existence today that we would call upon to take us back into nature’s realm, there is no other better candidate than Wardruna. This Norwegian force of (and for) nature needs no particular introduction, as they have forged their own blazing trail from the noctilucent North into the hearts of the world. Their Runaljod trilogy is a towering achievement in modern music and serves both as an inspiration to many and as a reminder that we belong to the Earth and not the other way around.
Released on January 24th by Sony Music and By Norse Music, the sixth studio album by the band is called Birna and sees their mastermind Einar Selvik reaching for inspiration deep into the dens and the burrows of the earth where the hibernating bears dream on their moss-covered beds. The concept behind the album is best described by the band itself:
“Birna – the she-bear in Old Norse – is a work of art dedicated to the warden of the forest, nature’s caretaker, and her battles here on earth. Slowly driven out of her habitat by modern day societies, she has entered a stage of permanent hibernation. As a result, the forest is gradually dying, longing for its pulse and heart – its shepherd.”
In effect, this album is a call and a warning to the man of industry that by stretching the limits of nature’s tolerance to greed we are betraying every single living creature on this planet. A change is needed, because we cannot come back to something that is gone forever. Lucky for us, it has been said that the poetry of the Earth is never dead and it will prevail in the end, as these ten songs will clearly show.
“Hertan” opens the album with a faint, but steady heartbeat that weaves its rhythm and binds it straight away in an unbreakable union between the instruments and the vocals echoing this throughout the whole record. A simple, yet quite effective message of connecting our heartbeats not just to those of the bears in question, but to nature itself manifests further in the song’s melancholic leanings and a passionate vocal delivery.
The title track follows with a somber melody playing into the strengths of the band, with Lindy-Fay Hella’s voice slowly building up the tension until everyone joins in on a path of restoration, walking side by side with the exalted spirits of the forest calling us into the warm embrace of the earth below to regenerate the energy that resides in all of us.
“Ljos til jord” marks the beginning of the autumnal change and the slowing of nature’s flow. Birds have gone to the south, there is a cold wind among the sleeping branches. The turning wheel is leading us underground in choral voices and Selvik’s emotional delivery. Light is truly collapsing into the Earth. This is mirrored in “Jord til ljos” which indicates an awakening of the spring, where maidens and blackbirds sing their songs in the fields and the meadows, and nature is opening its arms welcoming all the dreamers back to the light. The flute weaves its soft, sweet melody around the fiddle and the lyre while the whole band partakes in a celebration of new beginnings.
Bookended by these two songs is “Dvaledraumar”,which is, at its 15 minutes, surely the album’s centerpiece, and possibly one of the most personal songs that the band have put on tape. Singing about the bear’s sweet dreams of bees buzzing over a flower meadow while lying on a bed of moss, the song is an atmospheric exploration of the oneiric and the animalistic with minimal instrumentation and vocals ranging from whispers to calls from the deep, as if trying to bridge our minds to that of a sleeping bear across the barrier of unconsciousness.
“Himinndotter” seems to be the one song that embodies the most of the bear spirit theme of the album. Evocative and majestic, it calls for the aforementioned Daughter of the Sky to return, for without spirit, life is brief and the forest is doomed without its guardian. The song also features guest appearance by the Norwegian choir Koret Artemis, which adds a perfect ethereal note in reaching the spirit realm. This is followed by “Hibjørnen”, a scaldic composition dedicated to the hibernating bear and sees Selvik accompanied only by the solemn Kravik lyre and repeating the lines from “Dvaledraumar” about the importance of dreams and taking it slow. It’s a quiet life, but even bears have their necessities.
Getting closer to the end of the album, “Skuggehesten” speeds up and is a percussion-driven song that makes glorious use of instrumentation in producing, for what is worth, an actual riff and a uplifting chorus that pushes the rider and the animal further in search of the light, for the shadows are always lurking near. “Tretale” explores the voice of the trees as if trying to convey a message that this is not our world with trees in it. It’s a world of trees, where humans have just arrived. The hypnotic call to the listener to stand still and let his roots grow stronger plays into everything Wardruna represents.
The album closes with “Lyfjaberg”, a song already released as a single, even before the previous album Kvitravn from 2021, which Selvik thought would fit better on some later release, and Birna happens to be that release. A fitting ending with its mystical atmosphere and lyrics, for the journey up the healing mountain has just begun and our souls unbound by the physical possessions can finally soar upon the wind towards the farthest sides of the North.
In the end, “sowing new seeds and strengthening old roots” is what Wardruna’s music does best and it shows in every minute of this album. Ritualistic, totemic, spiritual and downright primal are just some of the attributes we could also use for any of the previous releases, but it seems Birna is the one that embraces these to the fullest, at the same time guiding the band’s stride firmly towards the future. By transcending everyday experiences and intertwining our souls with the almighty bear spirits, we will walk together again with our hearts alive, for the bears are made of the same dust as we, and they breathe the same winds and drink of the same waters.
Birna is out now on Sony Music and By Norse Music in all available formats. Photos courtesy of Wardruna and Morten Munthe.
WARDRUNA
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