Wildbirds & Peacedrums’ The Snake Out August 25th MP3 and Video for “There Is No Light” Available for Download

Wildbirds & Peacedrums’ The Snake Out August 25th MP3 and Video for “There Is No Light” Available for Download

The second album from Sweden’s extraordinary drums and vocals duo Wildbirds & Peacedrums, The Snake, will be available on August 25th. The MP3 and video for standout track “There Is No Light” are now available for download. “There Is No Light” channels the primeval spirit of rock’n'roll , and showcases drummer Andreas Werliin’s breathtaking style that vocalist Mariam Wallentin compares to “flashes before your eyes.”

“There Is No Light” MP3

“There Is No Light” video

“beautifully imaginative… magnificent” 8.3 – Pitchfork

“sensual, pulverising and mesmeric” * * * * – The Guardian

“one of the most attention-grabbing albums of the year” * * * * – The Sun

“exceptional” * * * * – Mojo

“an extraordinary album” – Uncut

“something to be treasured” 4/5 – Observer Music Monthly

In 2008, Wallentin and her percussionist husband Werliin were introduced to the world outside their lively Gothenburg scene and wound up as one of the year’s hidden treasures. The pair has since toured extensively, thriving on international festival stages, equally at home alongside pop sensations like fellow Swede Lykke Li as free-improv outfit The Thing.

The liberated abandon of Wildbirds & Peacedrums’ primitive soul music strikes an immediate and invigorating chord, as anyone who has seen them over the past year will attest. With The Snake, they deliver an adrenalin shot of passion straight to the heart, with songs that draw on anger and frustration as well as the life-affirming ardour that propels their music. “This record is not the typical second album. You know – filled with a lot of doubts,” explains Mariam with characteristic self-assurance. “We only work from intuition, on instinct. We’re not looking for perfection in music, rather for life and feeling. We like to be more explosive!”

Improbable recipients of the prestigious Jazz In Sweden 2008 prize, Mariam and Andreas used their winnings to record at the Soundtrack Of Our Lives-owned Svenska Grammofonstudion in Gothenburg. Vocals and drums were brilliantly recorded live to tape, and the spontaneity of the resulting album captures the intense bond between the couple, while expanding their sonic palette to include steel drum, piano, xylophone, marimba, Rhodes and more. “We tried to deconstruct the roles we have as a drummer/singer, so Mariam plays the same number of instruments as me,” Andreas explains.

It’s this psychic muscle that drives The Snake. “We break loose with the new instruments as we do with everything else,” Mariam says. “The melodies are there from the first second, but because we are curious people we search for different sounds and rhythms, without making the music too messy and forced.”