Wardruna publishes a new single and video “Himinndotter”, announces new album “Birna”

Today Wardruna premieres a new single and video “Himinsdotter”:

The video for Himinndotter has some Finnish roots: it is filmed in Rondane National Park in Norway and once again directed by Wardruna´s longtime collaborator Tuukka Koski, and produced by Breakfast Helsinki and Ragnarok Film. DOP Kristian Engelsen and post production by Post Control Helsinki.

Wardruna comments in their announcement:

Dear Wardruna family,

We’re excited to give you exclusive early access to today’s big news: from the deep woods emerges Birna, our sixth studio album.

Birna – the she-bear in Old Norse – is a work of art dedicated to the warden of the forest, nature’s caretaker, and her battles here on earth. We are excited to present the song and music video for “Himinndotter” (Sky-daughter) from the new record. The song constitues a search and a calling for our sister of the woods. Listen to the song / watch the video at https://bio.to/Wardruna. 

“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 Einar Selvik.  

”The more I thought, read, and researched, the more I realized that this album should mainly have a contemporary focus. Unraveling 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.

The bear doesn’t need my help or any human traditional ornamentation to be its own powerful self. It is quite the opposite if one looks to past bear-traditions worth remembering. We learn, we dream of borrowing its traits and abilities. We fear, revere, and try to walk alongside but on separate paths. Respectfully, claim space and give space. However inconvenient it may be, further taming of the wild can never be the fruitful way forward. For me, it profoundly felt like the right time to give voice to the Birna, mother and shepherd of the vanishing woods.” 

Birna will be released on January 24, 2025. Along with the album, we are releasing a DVD and Blu-ray ‘Live at the Acropolis’, containing our full equinox performance at the world heritage site Odeon of Herodes Atticus, Acropolis, Athens in September 2023.