I don’t know how much you know about Icelandic ravens. I only know that I know very little – except that they exist. Well, there’s one more thing: I know that filmmaker Edward Pack Davee, who spent part of his early childhood in Iceland, was so taken by these dark-feathered aerial acrobats that he dedicated an entire documentary to them. An attempt to explore the time in which his earliest memories were formed. The soundtrack was entrusted to American artist Patricia Wolf, whose meditative sonic landscapes and deep affinity for nature’s storytelling make her a natural fit.
As always, a score is at its best when it can detach itself from its source material – when the film it was written for becomes almost unnecessary. That’s certainly the case here. On The Hidden Islands of Birds, Wolf uses instruments like the UDO Super 6 synthesizer and an acoustic guitar to craft a beatless sonic realm, where childlike curiosity and nostalgia float in crystal-clear, shimmering sound. There’s a constant sense of wonder, and it doesn’t really matter whether your earliest memories were formed on the Icelandic coast or in a tower block in Wanne-Eickel (shoutout!). Her music brings you exactly where you’re meant to be.
Hrafnamynd
