Rivers

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Rivers album cover
Album Information

Total Tracks: 10   Total Length: 44:18

eMusic Review 0

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Ian Gittins

eMusic Contributor

08.23.10
Commercial success may elude them, but there's a rare, fierce beauty here
Label: The Control Group

The Swedish husband-and-wife team of Andreas Werliin and Mariam Wallentin have long crafted a precious, precocious music that hovers on the verge of silence, but on their third album, they up the ante considerably. Originally released earlier this year as two limited-edition vinyl EPs, Retina and Iris, Rivers is a water-themed concept album, of sorts, with the baroque melodrama of the five Retina tracks contrasting starkly with the hushed introspection of their Iris counterparts.

The married duo have always cleaved closely to the minimal-is-maximal school of songcraft, weaving textured tapestries from little more than Werliin's quasi-militaristic drumming and Wallentin's spectral larynx, but this time around they decamped to Iceland to recruit the services of Björk collaborators Valgeir Sigurdsson and Hildur Gudnadóttir and the 12-piece Schola Cantorum Reykjavik Chamber Choir. The results are often reminiscent of Björk's vocally fiery, paganistic 2004 album Medúlla, with Wallentin's yearning tones sounding simultaneously vivacious and vulnerable against the glacial drifts of tracks such as "Bleed Like There Was No Other Flood" and "Tiny Holes In This World," while "The Wave" is a glorious wash of steel drums and timpani.

Wildbirds & Peacedrums operate at a wilfully rarefied musical altitude and commercial success may once… read more »

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Dark Beauty and the Beat.

ethereallad

This voice and percussion duo sounds like the Creatures and Medulla-era Bjork with a dash of PJ Harvey. The poly-rhythms and the dark alto combine in this song cycle in hypnotic and inventive ways. The lyrics are personal and water imagery flows through these pieces.

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They Say All Music Guide

A study in contrasts, Rivers finds Wildbirds & Peacedrums exploring the conceptual possibilities of their approach. Once again, Mariam Wallentin and Andreas Werliin limit themselves to voice and percussion, but this album — which combines the limited-edition EPs Retina and Iris — features some of the duo’s most ambitious and fullest-sounding music. Wallentin and Werliin ventured to Iceland to record these songs, recording the expansive Retina in Guðríðarkirkja church with cellist and arranger Hildur Guðnadóttir and the Schola Cantorum Reykjavík Chamber Choir. Trading the fiery outbursts of Heartcore and The Snake for a deeper dive into Wildbirds & Peacedrums’ wintry, introspective side, Retina feels at once sacred and avant-garde. The choir underscores Wallentin’s expressive vocals, adding to her ethereality on “Bleed Like There Was No Other Flood,” shadowing her like a battle cry on “Fight for Me” and echoing her joy on “Tiny Holes in This World.” The dark, meditative feel of these songs recalls Björk’s later work — not a surprise, since the Schola Cantorum Reykjavík Chamber Choir worked with her on Medúlla. What is somewhat surprising is the amount of restraint the duo shows not just on Retina, but Iris as well. Recorded in Reykjavík’s Greenhouse Studios, Iris focuses on Wallentin’s voice and the watery tones of the steel pan. Though “The Wave” suggests that these songs will be more like the band’s previous work, a calmer, softer Wildbirds & Peacedrums presents itself on songs like “The Drop” and “The Lake.” While the duo’s more explosive side is missed — they don’t really cut loose until Iris’ final track “The Well” — a more sophisticated and soulful aspect of their music surfaces on “The Course,” where Wallentin sings, “I need a prayer to hold my course/To get a god to give me the force.” That Werliin and Wallentin recorded all of these songs within a week is impressive enough, but the new directions they hint at for Wildbirds & Peacedrums are even more exciting. Rivers isn’t as immediate as either Heartcore or The Snake, but fans should find it satisfying once they’ve had time to let it soak into their ears, brains and hearts. – Heather Phares

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