Ex-SubRosa leading member Rebecca Vernon embarks on a solo project journey four years after SubRosa’s disbandment under the moniker of The Keening, presenting a full-length consisting of Gothic Chamber Doom elements, accompanied by the feature of a handful of instruments, being flute, strings, harp, French horn, piano, organ, and hammered dulcimer – creating a vast multitude of echoed soundscapes.

Little Bird (Relapse Records), was recorded in December 2020 in collaboration with Billy Anderson who has previously worked with many other renowned names such as Neurosis, High on Fire, and Melvins. Throughout the creative process of Little Bird, Vernon involved many other impeccable collaborators as well, which are Kelly Schilling (Dreadnought and Bleakheart) on flute, Lily Breshears (Sheers) on harp, Allegra Sauvage on cello, Dan Partridge on French horn, as well as additional vocals contributed by Erin Jane Laroue (Jamais Jamais), Kayla Dixon (Witch Mountain), Lindsay Heath (Lindsay Heath Orchestra, Violet Temper), and Lisa Zimmerman.

Consisting of six solemnly melodic tracks to note, Little Bird is cinematic at its best, envisaging visions of wondrous passages. Think of the darkness that the likes of Chelsea Wolfe and Emma Ruth Rundle present, but with the intricate melancholy of Oathbreaker – that’s approximately how this full-length sounds to me. With every passing tide of chambered sonic journeys on this album, Vernon meticulously crafts well-curated senses of magic and wonder in spite of all the darkness. 

After all, the aesthetics of Little Bird speak of many recurring themes; secret crimes, jeweled cages, and the unenviable curse of being a murder witness being few of them.

Obviously existing in a different space to SubRosa,  which leant more on to the post-metal side of the musical horizons, but each project stands out in their own ways, the haunting vocals of Vernon’s capture the best of all the cinematic passages on this album. Not only featuring chamber doom elements, but this album is also inclined towards the tendency of folk music, with storytelling-like vocals and instrument compositions resembling ballads and elegies– the whole vibe of this album, it gives off the feeling of listening to an eulogy of the dead, being in an old abandoned church in the midst of a funeral that anyone barely attends.

Buy the album here:

https://thekeeningmusic.bandcamp.com/album/little-bird

8 / 10

RALKA SKJERSETH