Weird And Not So Wonderful
Sometimes strange just doesn’t do a band justice and eccentric seems too mild and rigid a tag to flippantly staple on, Wildbirds And Peacedrums are one such act. Having met at the Academy of Music and Drama in Gothenburg, Mariam Wallentin and Andreas Werliin quickly decided that the strictly confined curriculum just wasn’t for them, bounding them in perhaps a bit too much and so set out to show the world just how vibrantly weird and wonderful music could be, the result being their latest album, ‘Heatcore’, a collection of ethnically surreal bursts of colour that is bulging with personality and eccentricity from every pore. But what would you expect for two music enthusiasts who have even hand stitched album covers before?
Usual is an understatement for ‘Heatcore’ as the album prises open a can of mind challenging diversity that truly alters your reality. With just a prolonged strummed note echoing in the album’s entrance, ‘Heatcore’ opens with the minimalist ‘Pony’ that gently breathes life into the Swedish duo’s music as a humbled concoction of folk and jazz merge to tell of a black horse and misjudging a seesaw. Sure, it might not make sense on the surface and it may have you conjuring up pictures of a certain type of people basking in mind altering substances dancing in a field but there’s something strangely appealing that draws you in, kind of like many of the attractions at Glastonbury, you know the ones. As ‘The What Things Go’ up the tempo with some shimmying percussion and tops turvey vocals that sweep and soar, ‘Heatcore’ starts to venture into what can only be described as normal territory as a catchy hook is slipped in and the band start to look just simply eccentric. But its all over in a blink of an eye as ‘Bird’ bounds in with Wallentin’s voice doing musical acrobatics as she strives for a pitch that few will be able to hear before dropping like a stone to a humble growl as the track pounds along in the world of the bizarre as tribal drumming steers the track along making you wonder if the album can ever redeem itself again. ‘I Can’t Tell Her Eyes’ finds the duo offering a whimsical lament that is engaging in its sheer starkness with the band’s minimal quality pulling gently on your heart strings before latest single ‘Doubt/Hope’ shines through with a faux blues pop quality that is as infectious as it is foot tapping peculiar but again the Wildbirds and Peacedrums then jump completely in the opposite direction, leaving those that love their minimalist honesty grasping for help for the most part of the album.
With a portion of the ‘Heatcore’ screaming out to the listener with tender heart felt bouts of emotion, Wildbrids And Peacedrums are a force to truly be embraced but unfortunately it doesn’t last for long. All too soon and too often the Sweish pair delves into the weird and not very wonderful, making it hard to connect with the tracks and forcing you to resist the overwhelming urge to hit the skip button. Stick with it and ‘Heatcore’ will offer mesmerizing gems of music but the challenge will be getting past the first track.