Rivers

"You used to be fun – all drinking and rock and roll and showing your bum and stuff," I imagine percussionist Andreas Werlin's mates saying to him. "But since you've got married [to vocalist Mariam Wallentin], it's nothing but brilliantly propulsive, intricately-layered choral music hinting at the sublime with you. You've changed!"
Of course, in reality I know nothing of their marriage or Andreas's chums. Wildbirds & Peacedrums' third album, however, is hauntingly beautiful, from its harmonically lush first half ('Retina'), to the more melodically spare, marimba-accompanied second section ('Iris'). It's also constructed entirely from larynxes that vibrate and objects that can be hit, thus tapping into the very primordial beginnings of music-making. A small triumph.