BYRDI are a Nordic folk band from Hov, Norway, having formed back in 2012 the band are no strangers to the world of music, what started off as the duo of Nash Rothanburg and Jørn Øyhus, the band released their debut album "Eventyr" in 2014 and two years on from that in 2016, the band added vocalist Andreas Paulsen into the fold ahead of their second album, 2017's "Ansur:Unkraft". Following on from that the band released a single "Solsnu" in 2018 and since then the band added a fourth member, harpist Gulia Wyrd-Svartskog along the way the band are now back with their third album "Byrjing" via Trollmusic.

The record is packed with eight Nordic fold tracks for fans of Nordic folk to enjoy. With the vocals of Andreas Paulsen along with his melodic guitar playing and drumming ability and the combination of both him and Nash Rothanburg on percussion to add to their sound. The bands sound is complete by a combination of Gulia Wyrd-Svartskog's as well as Nash Rothanburg's skills on the harp.

Prior to the release of this album, that band released three pre-release singles, they released "Solsnu" in December 2020 and returned in January with "Huldre" to kick off 2021 and again came back in February with their third and final single "Heim" before releasing the album as a whole in early March.

The album's opening track "Solsnu" caught me off guard as I wasn't sure what Nordic folk music would sound like, it's very ambient sounding and calming unlike anything I'd ever really heard before so it's hard to put my finger on what it sounds like, it's almost ritualistic sounding with the deep echoing vocals of Andreas Paulsen throughout the track giving it an interesting feel to it.

"Solsnu" was then followed by the release of "Huldre" which again has a unique sound to it, almost sounding like it would fit into the soundtrack for a western movie at times or some sort of medieval movie or video game as it has that kind of medieval feel to it, starting off with a flute and slowly building with drums and other sounds as the vocals are brought in shortly after in an almost chanting like manor.

Directly following on from "Huldre" we are brought the albums final single released prior to the album, we have "Heim" which has a different and much more laid back kind of style then the previous tracks on the album, the instrumentation is mainly coming from an acoustic guitar as it's layered with vocals rather then having loads of instruments creating a layered sound, it is however one of the longest tracks on the album, clocking in at nearly nine minutes in length coming in just behind "Geirodd" which is the album's longest track at just over ten minutes in length.

Having listened to the album in it's entirety, I can say if you're into Nordic fold music, this is definitely worth checking out, the tracks aren't too long, apart from "Geirodd" and "Heim" which are almost twenty minutes of the albums forty six minute total length, it's a unique sounding record and definitely one to check out