"The day we played, there were bears seen right across the river from the festival." Inside the fascinating new documentary that lifts the lid on enigmatic Nordic folk leaders Wardruna

Einar from Wardruna smiling.

Wardruna are no strangers to documentaries – 2016’s London By Norse, a Metal Hammer collaboration, charted the roots of the Norse folk guiding lights and the Enslaved team-up project, Skuggsjá, while the Kvitravn series of shorts explored the creation of their fifth album just as the world was entering lockdown. However, a new 70-minute film released on YouTube, Tracking Birna, offers a deep dive into a side of the band that they’ve never revealed publicly before.

“It offers a glimpse into something that I’ve been very hesitant towards,” founder and mastermind Einar Selvik says. “I didn’t want it to steal focus from what we do or demystify it – not that there’s anything mystical going on backstage. But at the same time, we go onstage as ourselves. It’s not a mask we put on, and I think that comes through in the film.”