Wildbirds & Peacedrums - Rivers Album Review - REDEFINE magazine - music art film journalism

Man, there is some seriously heavy shit going down here — and when I say heavy, I mean that in the spiritual sense rather than the Slayer sense. With the dominance of competitive male energy coursing through the our psyches and ensnaring our female brethren in lives dominated by patriarchal norms and memes of shallow, fashion magazine-induced self-loathing, what better way to reconvene with the sacred feminine than with this stuff?

I can’t even throw this on without being regaled by fever dreams of communion with the plant kingdom, Gaia, or mother earth herself. I think it has to do with the choral, almost Benedictine monk-influenced weirdness going down on Rivers. It just sounds holy — so holy and hypnotizing that it took me several go-rounds to notice that this is some pretty minimalist stuff. Mainly just faerie chanting, gargantuan female vocals, and sparse percussive arrangements — a pretty impressive feat to pull off, from what I later learned was a husband and wife duo from Sweden.

Which isn’t to say that they fall into the songless or minimalist/drone noise trap that a lot of similarly-minded artists find themselves lost in. It’s just that there are actual songs here. I found myself humming tracks like “Retina: Peeling Off The Layers,” and “Iris: The Wave” (those are actual song titles) days after the fact, even though I have no idea what this chick is actually singing about; it’s more about a feeling.

These cats give off the vibe that they know something about our higher destiny that will forever elude the rest of us Philistines. It’s a neat trick. They can talk to the trees, apparently, and channel the energy right back to us through sound patterns. Powerful vibes, for sure. Tune into the sound of the regenerative powers of the Swedish countryside, and let them heal your soul.

Listen to “Iris: The Drop” – DOWNLOAD MP3