Tonight Wildbirds & Peacedrums, which is actually just one band, is playing at Le Poisson Rouge. The Swedish husband-and-wife band will be bringing its slightly spooky pop—as seen on its recent album The Snake—to a slot opening for Deerhoof, and as Henry Melcher finds out, it would be smart to get there early. There was a year delay between the Swedish and U.S. release of The Snake. Did you change anything during the interim? If not, would you have wanted to?
Andreas Werliin: Nothing is changed except the design, for the U.S release our label thought it would be a good idea to put on some pictures of eagles and monster trucks so we did. We're holding our fingers crossed it'll be a hit! Musically we’re still doing our version of the freedom suite.
Mariam Wallentin: We see our recordings more as documentation of were we are at the moment and not as something that need to be complete because nothing is. We could have changed a lot in one way, because a year is a long time, but still, I think we both feel that the record is what it is and should be kept that way. If we wanted something changed we would need to make a cover album of it instead.
What are you most looking forward to for your show in New York?
A: It will be exciting to play for people who've never heard of us before, and kind of hit from underneath. Since our sound is very different from the average band we can catch some attention by that and then fish them in to our net to finally break their hearts.
A lot of people have trouble labeling your band. Folk, pop, indie and jazz all are used, but how do you describe your own sound?
M: Like new blues on a heat wave.
A: A couple of years ago we spent a lot of time trying to create music that had never been heard before. But the search of new became pointless after a while when we understood that new don't necessarily means good. So that's when we switched from new music to what we think is good soulful music.
As a husband and wife how does playing and writing together impact your marriage? What do you think it says about the impact of music on relationships?
M: We try to keep them separate but of course they infect each other, mostly in a good way. Since we spend so much time together there's never any doubt of what and why we are doing this, we are like a rolling-music-machine-on-constant-family-therapy. Luckily I’m not that into writing love songs—that would be a bit too much.
Sweden can be known for its more liberal policies and environmental activism. Do you feel a pressure to comment on environmental or political issues in your music?
A: The only fight we have is against our selves, we are very self critical when it comes to our music and our performances. Maybe that's because we are Swedish and have big heavy blanket of self-denial on our backs. Don't forget that fifty percent of our people jumped on boats to search for a new life and became Americans a couple of hundred years ago. The ones who stayed were the ones who did not believe that they weren't wordy anything else than Brännvin and potatoes in this world.
What impresses you most about the music you hear in America?
M: The self-confidence and the direction.
A: It's the extremes that I like—that it can sound so total unaware of what's going on in the rest of the world on one hand and the ones who knows about the poverty in Africa they have to sing literally "Save the starving children in Africa", that is humor.
What do you see as the biggest misconceptions people might have about your music from your part of the world?
M That it’s freak folk, that makes me so tired.
A. It's hard to tell what's being said behind your back, but if you think about what you yourself have being saying about bands I'm sure there are some pretty weird rumors spreading.
What direction do you see Wildbirds & Peacedrums going in?
A: We haven't really had time to think about it yet. We have got some invitations from art galleries and film festivals, who knows where that will end up. After almost two years of continuous touring we are definitely ready for something new (and hopefully good).
M: I want to do a choir piece.
What do you want to learn (about music or otherwise) from this tour?
A: To fly without getting nervous breakdowns from the turbulence, that would be lovely!
M: To bike around in Park Slope and to find the perfect drink.
