When: 7.30pm on Monday 6 April 2009
Where: Dulcimer, 567 Wilbraham Road, Chorlton, Manchester M21 0AE

Sweden’s Wildbirds & Peacedrums – singer Mariam Wallentin and percussionist Andreas Werliin – play an unclassifiable mix of dark, bluesy vocals and powerful rhythms – with some pop and jazz elements thrown in for good measure.

We caught them late at night at September’s End of the Road festival and were so impressed we’ve invited them to Manchester – Mariam sounded like Feist and even Joanna Newsom to a lesser extent, and the pair’s energy and interaction on stage frankly blew us away.

They met in 2004 at Gothenburg’s Academy of Music and Drama but, frustrated at the institute’s rigid format, they began making music on their own the following year (and also got married). They released two limited-edition CD-Rs on their own before recording their full debut album, Heartcore, in 2006; it was released in 2007 by the Swedish label Found You.

The Leaf Label reissued the album internationally in spring 2008, and that year, the band also toured with Lykke Li and were named Swedish Jazz Group of the Year 2008. Wildbirds & Peacedrums’ second album, The Snake, arrived on the Swedish jazz label Caprice in December 2008 and will soon be released in the UK.

We’re delighted to announce that fellow Leaf Labellers Volcano! have joined this bill!

Volcano! hail from Chicago, and the trio (Mark Cartwright, Sam Scanton and Aaron With) are best-known for their rather out-there alt-rock arrangements; their two albums to date, Beautiful Seizure and last year’s Paperwork, are riddled with experimentation and bursting with more than the odd ‘WTF!’ moment.

Local support comes from The Lone Taxidermist, aka Natalie from The Bottomfeeders. Her self-proclaimed influences range from The Cure, The Cramps and Moondog to funeral marches, Dante’s inferno and circus freak shows. We think the resulting music sounds a bit like Pulp circa 1983.

This show takes place at Dulcimer, Manchester’s celebrated ‘folk bar’ in central Chorlton. Regular buses (85 and 86) run to Chorlton from the city centre, plus the 23 and 23A from Didsbury and West Didsbury and the 168 from Fallowfield. We recommend using GMPTE’s JourneyPlanner to arrange your trip

Tickets from WeGotTickets.com, Ticketline.co.uk, SeeTickets.com, Piccadilly Records on Oldham Street, Zavvi in the Arndale Centre, Ticketline Box Office in St John’s Centre, Liverpool, and on 0161 832 1111.