Wildbirds & Peacedrums

Key tracks:

The Drop
The Way Things Go
Retina: Peeling Off The Layers
Retina: Fight For Me
My Heart

Label: The Leaf Label

Read Description:

Eclectic, rhythmic pagan pop with soulful female vocals.

Swedish duo Wildbirds & Peacedrums consist of a charismatic singer and exceptional drummer forging an extraordinary hybrid of spiritual pop, primal blues and ecstatic soul music. Seesawing between pagan rhythms and sparse, bewitching ballads, their music is a declaration of intent: immediate, exhilarating, and just plain new, capturing pure feeling and emotion.

Debut offering “Heartcore” is largely stripped bare with only the most potent, childlike select sounds remaining behind Mariam's transporting voice - the effect is luscious, enveloping and mesmerizing. Their second album "The Snake" has garnered even more lavish reviews than it's predecessor, check out the critics going crazy for them below. Quite right too-, Mariam's vocals are as unique and compelling as P.J. Harvey and Kate Bush, and the rhythms are becoming more fractured yet powerful at every turn.

The duo’s latest output comes in the form of two EPs – "Retina" and "Iris" – which join to form album "Rivers". Based on the idea of water reflecting emotions, this is an other-worldly, ethereal affair that is stratospheric in scale and emotional scope. Andreas’ trademark percussion and Mariam’s passionate vocals are joined for half the tracks by an Icelandic chamber choir, and the other half by just steel drums. The arrangements are simple but intricate, soft and powerful, creating a completely compelling and moving listen.

Listen to a selection of tracks from across all releases above.

Releases we represent:

Heartcore | Album | The Leaf Label | 2008
The Snake | Album | The Leaf Label | 2009
My Heart | Single | The Leaf Label | 2009
Retina | EP | The Leaf Label | 2010
Iris | EP | The Leaf Label | 2010
Rivers | Album | The Leaf Label | 2010

Quotes:

For Rivers:

"Mariam's souful wallop like the dawn light through icicles. A fine evolution" 8/10 NME

"Their most emotionally satisfying work yet... Dreamy, otherworldly, with an atmosphere akin to Kate Bush's work with the Trio Bulgarka on The Sensual World, Rivers is a record that will haunt you long after you've heard it" 4/5 Mojo

"A stunning hybrid of percussive art-pop and early choral music.... The results shimmer like rivers at dusk."  4/5 Uncut

"Their most fragile yet... A desolate statement that is naked enough to make listening feel like an act of voyeurism" The Wire

"Hauntingly intense"  Q

For The Snake:

"Pretty exceptional" 4/5 Mojo

"Beautifully imaginative... magnificent" 8.3 Pitchfork

“An overpowering feast…like Bat For Lashes at her wildest” **** Q

"Sensual, pulverising and mesmeric" **** The Guardian

"A wild trip indeed" **** The Independent

For There Is No Light:

"Seriously stripped-down and unexpectedly intoxicating" The Observer

"Strong stuff indeed" Single of the Week, DJ

For Heartcore:

“A heady brew of pagan blues, spiritual pop and ecstatic soul music. Something to be treasured” 4/5 Observer Music Monthly

“The overall effect, is utterly bewitching, landing somewhere between pagan blues and skeletal, experimental soul” The Independent

“A weird and wild yet transfixingly beautiful debut” 5/6 Time Out Critic’s Choice

"Unified talent and staggering virtuosity marks out a very bright future indeed” 8/10 Drowned In Sound