As Wardruna prepares for their October 3 performance at the iconic Red Rocks Amphitheatre, main composer and songwriter Einar Selvik and the evening’s special guest, Chelsea Wolfe, discuss the special outing, their shared admiration for each other’s music and how they approach songwriting in a newly released, in-depth interview.
“I’m a sucker for melody, for visual music,” Selvik explains in the interview which was conducted by Frank Godla (Metal Injection), and filmed over the Summer in Oslo. “The first time I experienced Chelsea’s music was live, at Hellfest. I could hear elements of things that I do in my music, or how I like to paint the picture. It has this Nordic feel to it actually. I like artists who aren’t afraid to follow the path they are on.”
“Even though our music is very different, and comes from different worlds, there is some crossover,” Wolfe says of her relationship to Wardruna’. “Both of us bring a sense of theater and spirituality to our live show. I love the idea of bringing history into the modern world in a totally fresh way like Wardruna does.”
Tickets for the Red Rock Amphitheatre performance, which serves as Wardruna’s sole North American performance ahead of a planned 2025 album release, are on-sale now, here.
Playing at manmade historical locations like the world heritage site Odeon of Herodes Atticus, at Acropolis in Athens, the Ancient Theater in Plovdiv, Bulgaria and Castle Devin in Bratislava, Slovakia, as well as locations surrounded by natural wonders such as the Red Rocks in Colorado, allows Wardruna, in dialogue with the audience, to continue to create moments of true connection between inner and outer landscapes and each other.
At the heart of the Norwegian group Wardruna lies the vision of sowing new seeds and strengthening old roots. They are not mimicking the past, but rather utilizing it in crafting their contemporary, authentic and unique sound. 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. Alongside his work with Wardruna, Einar Selvik has created music for tv and game productions such as “Vikings” and “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla,” he gives tutorials and lectures on Old Norse literature, musicology, instruments, and philosophy.
