Wildbirds & Peacedrums

Wildbirds & Peacedrums, the Swedish duo built around vocalist Mariam Wallentin and drummer Andreas Werliin, weave a hard-to-pin-down sound that pairs lean, blues-tinged vocals with forceful percussion while folding in pop and jazz touches. The pair first crossed paths in 2004 at Gothenburg’s Academy of Music and Drama, yet chafed against the school’s strict curriculum; they therefore launched their own projects the next year and soon married. Two self-released, limited-edition CD-Rs preceded their proper debut, Heartcore, which they tracked in 2006 and saw issued by the Swedish imprint Found You in 2007. Leaf gave the album a wider international release in spring 2008, the same year the group joined Lykke Li on tour and earned the Jazz in Sweden designation. Their follow-up, Snake, surfaced on the Swedish jazz outlet Caprice in 2008 and reached the United States twelve months afterward. The duo next headed to Iceland, where they cut a pair of EPs in a single week: Retina, featuring cellist and arranger Hildur Guðnadóttir together with the Schola Cantorum Reykjavík Chamber Choir, and Iris, laid down at Reykjavík’s Greenhouse studios. Both EPs appeared in limited runs during May and June 2010 before being merged a few months later into the album Rivers. Following an extensive 2011 touring cycle alongside St. Vincent, Deerhoof, and Konono No. 1, Wallentin and Werliin turned their attention to a fourth record late that year. Drawing from their relentless road schedule, they pared the arrangements to their core on Rhythm, which emerged in November 2014.