Woods of Birnam is a German pop and rock band from Dresden that formed in 2011. The ensemble was established by the actor and musician Christian Friedel alongside four former members of the group Polarkreis 18. The band originated as a side project following a tour supporting Friedel’s solo recording The Closer EP. They released the limited edition recording The Healer EP in 2012 before their debut eponymous studio album, Woods of Birnam, arrived in 2014. The group achieved wider recognition after contributing the track “I’ll Call Thee Hamlet” (2014) as the title theme for the Til Schweiger film Honig im Kopf. In 2016, the ensemble participated in the German preliminary selection for the Eurovision Song Contest with the single “Lift Me Up (From The Underground)”. Their discography includes the studio albums Searching for William (2017), Grace (2018), and How to Hear a Painting (2020), the latter featuring the song “Du bist alles” for the television series Babylon Berlin. Their later recordings include the studio albums Macbeth (2022), Dorian (2023), and Solaris (2025).
