Wardruna announce new album ‘Birna’

September 21, 2024 James Weaver

WARDRUNA have announced a new album!

Titled Birna, the upcoming album from the Norwegian folk collective is the follow-up to 2021’s Kvitravn, and is scheduled to be released in January next year, via By Norse.

Birna – the she-bear in Old Norse – is a work of art dedicated to the guardian of the forest, nature’s caretaker, and her battles here on earth. Slowly driven out of her habitat by modern day societies, she has entered a stage of permanent hibernation. As a result, the forest is gradually dying, longing for its pulse and heart – its shepherd. Birna calls for her return. “Where the previous album Kvitravn was a step conceptually from the past to the present, Birna even more so seeks to address the here and now and the way forward,” states composer Einar Selvik. “For a long time, I knew the main theme and framework of this album but finding its voice and words was in many ways my main challenge. The more I thought, read, and researched, the more I realised that this album should mainly have contemporary focus. Unravelling the long and entangled history of the relationship between man and Bear and contemplating the present state of how we humans relate to the wild in general.”

Alongside the announcement of the new album, WARDRUNA have released a new music video for a new song lifted from the upcoming album; Himinndotter. The new song is the second single to be released from the upcoming album; following on from Hertan and Lyfjaberg.

Speaking about the new song, Selvik says, “Himinndotter (Sky-daughter) is part of a six-song exploration of the bear on WARDRUNA‘s upcoming album Birna (She-bear). The title plays on the globally common notion of the bears mythical origin as a celestial being. Himinndotter features a guest appearance of the Norwegian choir KORET ARTEMIS.”

Watch the official music video for Himinndotter here: