Wardruna - Birna

From the deep woods now emerges Birna, Wardruna’s sixth studio album, scheduled for January 24, 2025 through Sony Music and By Norse Music. Through his never resting dialogue with nature, main composer Einar Selvik has been searching for the voice of the bear.  

The Norwegian group is now releasing the new single and music video for “Himinndotter.” The song constitutes a search and a calling for our lost sister of the woods. Composer Einar Selvik states “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 guest appearance of the Norwegian choir Koret Artemis”.

The video for Himinndotter 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. 

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. 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.

The bear frequently figures in the oldest myths of mankind in the northern hemisphere, and many indigenous people still regard this animal as a totem, honouring it with rites and songs. It was once our respected guardian, our guide to edible plants and berries, a creature we both feared and admired.

The heartbeat of the dormant bear, around nine beats per minute, can be felt throughout the Birna album. This cyclical process, so embedded both in nature and the worldview of older cultures, drives Einar Selvik’s every creative work. Birna nurtures the insight that has been at the core of Selvik’s philosophy right from the start: sowing new seeds whilst strengthening old roots. 

Instruments and wisdom from ancient times, coupled with modern day soundscapes and recorded sounds of nature, provide a rare opportunity to tell us something valuable about ourselves. It works as a reminder that we are part of nature, not above it, and it offers a way of remembering, not for memory’s own sake, but to gain both new and forgotten insights.