Posted in Whathaveyou on July 28th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
I guess among Boston-area summer underground fests, Grub, Sweat & Beers is where the shenanigans are at. Somergloom‘s vibe is darker — could it be the name? — and that becomes an underlying thread for their curated lineups. This year’s, with Sumac at the top of the bill as Aaron Turner of Sumac returns to Beantown for the first time (no, not really) since Isis was putting out demos with Godflesh art on the cover, runs a gamut in terms of sound from post-everything to grind, and as with the last few years, the bill is thoughtfully constructed.
The fest is set for Aug. 7-9, which I was like “oh crap that’s this week” but no, it’s next week. Because I have no idea what time is and maybe I’m a little bit grasping toward the end of summer. In any case, this will be the first time The Keening are in Boston, and there’s Nepalese-rooted grindcore outfit Chepang and Body Void, who’ve gone industrial? I had no idea. I bet that’s harsh as hell. Good thing one appreciates a bit of homework.
From the PR wire:
Somergloom Festival Returns for Year 5 – Aug. 7-9
Somergloom Festival enters its fifth year of doom and gloom with its most ambitious lineup to date. Formed in 2021 on the heels of the pandemic and a year without shows, each year Somergloom brings together a diverse lineup of artists from the underground heavy and dark music scenes in New England and beyond. From its early years in a parking lot, to local breweries and Somerville’s Arts at the Armory, Somergloom finds its home for year five at Crystal Ballroom in Somerville and Deep Cuts in Medford.
A collaboration of Somergloom founder and Artistic Director Stephen LoVerme and Executive Producer JJ Gonson of ONCE Somerville, Somergloom’s curatorial approach showcases the richness of the heavy music scene, centering around music that is introspective, creatively ambitious, and evoking a melancholic quality that we like to call “gloom.”
“Sadness and dark feelings are legitimate emotions. They’re part of a whole range of human emotion and experience. Some people will say, ‘I can’t listen to sad or depressing music because it just makes me feel bad.’ But for me, it’s always had the opposite effect. It lifts me up.” – Stephen LoVerme, Somergloom Artistic Director
This year’s lineup celebrates the vibrant and increasingly diversifying underground heavy music community, with artists from Boston’s own doom scene sharing the bill with established and emerging artists from Puerto Rico, the Pacific Northwest, New York, and across New England. This intriguing interplay of sounds and artistic approaches is something audiences can only experience at this kind of multi-day festival, when there’s a chance to experience 16 bands across three days.
Expressionistic metal ensemble SUMAC finish their tour of the northeastern US headlining Somergloom on Saturday 8/9 at Crystal Ballroom. Featuring Aaron Turner of foundational Massachusetts post-metal bands ISIS and Old Man Gloom, Russian Circles bassist Brian Cook, and Baptists drummer Nick Yacyshyn, SUMAC continues to push musical boundaries and genre expectations through bold collaborations and fearless experimentation.
Year five welcomes the return of sludge titans Body Void, who since headlining year one have fully embraced industrial noise and electronics as a key element of their world weary doom. Reflecting “the nightmarish reality of a country seemingly built only to exploit and punish,” Body Void’s vision of doom is both oppressively bleak and satisfyingly cathartic.
The Keening, the brainchild of ex-SubRosa singer and guitarist Rebecca Vernon marks its Boston area debut with an intimate solo performance by Vernon. On record, The Keening’s American Gothic inspired “chamberdoom” brims with lush orchestration; at Somergloom, audience members will experience Vernon’s “wintry murder ballads” at their purest and most direct.
The festival takes on a global scope with appearances by San Juan, Puerto Rico-based progressive metal outfit MOTHS and NYC’s Nepalese language and self-described “immigrindcore” band Chepang. Each band excels at their genre and infuses their culture into it, inviting audiences to look beyond borders to our shared humanity and reverence for the almighty riff.
Boston doom veterans Morne will make a rare local appearance, imbuing the festival with their trademark crust-tinged, brooding atmospheric doom. The rest of the lineup is stacked with artists from a diverse array of genres ranging from black metal to shoegaze to post-metal to gothic folk, each bringing their own unique life experience and artistic vision to their craft.
Over its first four years, Somergloom has hosted over 40 bands at 6 different venues. 2025 brings 16 bands to 2 new venues, supported in part by the Somerville Arts Council, and continues to create a space for lovers of dark music to commune with one another in sound and let their gloom flag fly.
Thursday, August 7 at Deep Cuts, Medford: Slow Quit Main Era GUHTS Lesotho
Friday, August 8 at Crystal Ballroom at Somerville Theatre, Somerville: Body Void The Keening Lepra Vudu Sister Tears from a Grieving Heart
Saturday, August 9 at Crystal Ballroom at Somerville Theatre, Somerville: SUMAC Morne Chepang Moths A Monolithic Dome Cowardice Chainlacing
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 10th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Watch out for the screams here, which really should be everybody’s response to the ongoing Palestinian genocide. The world should have already stopped. General strike. Nobody goes to work/school/shopping until a ceasefire. Everything. Stops. But we’re not that caring a species or a people. My country, the USA, where I was born, raised and live, is supporting the systematic eradication of an entire people. This is not the first time I’ve been ashamed to be American, but it is the most ashamed to be an American that I’ve been in my lifetime, and that includes the 2003 invasion of Iraq, sundry extrajudicial killings, and other wars of aggression.
That is to say, what’s happening now is worse. Is the worst. And we, as a people, are letting it happen every day, ongoing. No terrifying video is enough to stop it. No outcry from whatever well-meaning news reporter. No earnest Tiktokker with ‘breaking news’ is going to fix it. We are living through horrors sadly not unprecedented. And if you’re here and alive, you’re complicit in it. It’s all of our genocide now, and we’ll carry the shame of it for the rest of our lives. Incredible how little the moral implications matter in the face of rampant state-sponsored murder, though.
The Keening made a song about it. I would call the lyrics, which you can see below, justified in their disgust and disdain.
The following comes from Bandcamp:
Hell is a Mirror
“Let Gaza live.”
In the last 20 years I’ve been writing music, there are two songs that mattered more than any others to me because I wrote them with a specific purpose. One was “Troubled Cells,” written in 2018, to raise awareness about suicide rates among LGBTQ youth in Utah. The other is this song.
Two million Palestinians are being deliberately starved to death in Gaza—the natural outcome of a long, grueling, drawn-out genocide set in motion 75 years ago by an entitled nation state bent on the destruction/ethnic cleansing of an indigenous population it dehumanizes and massacres, culminating now in this modern-day Final Solution.
This song goes out to the leaders of Israel, whose humanity has been crippled beyond recognition; all the world leaders who have done nothing to stop this live-streamed genocide; and all the weapons manufacturers and other corporations making billions off this bloodbath.
To the Palestinians, I’m sorry we have failed you. I hope you and your remaining families survive. I hope the world changes. I hope you’ll be able to return to your homes soon. Above all, I hope that I live to see a free Palestine.
+ + +
Andy Patterson recorded, mixed and mastered this song May 24-June 2, in the Boar’s Nest in Salt Lake City. Lindsay Heath wrote and performed the chants and screams. Thank you so much to both of them.
100% of all proceeds from the sales for this song (minus PayPal fees) will be donated to Gaza Mutual Aid Solidarity (GMAS), a group with loved ones in Gaza providing direct aid to those in need. A direct link to their Give Butter donation page is here, with a little more about them: givebutter.com/c/GazaSolidarity.
I list the song for $1, but you are welcome to donate more, of course.
Love, Rebecca
+ + +
Hell is a Mirror
White fire falls from the sky Another child burns alive And in the East, a dreadful sound Pale buildings cascading down
In the night, she comforts her son Of her children, the last one There is no brimstone below Hell is right here and right now
And in the morning She’ll be running again In the morning She’ll be running She’ll be running again and again
Fat cats on Bethesda lawns Clink cups while they grease palms Greed is like an infectious disease An endless, putrid shriek
But when the arc of justice turns You’ll be caught in the crosshairs first There is no lake of fire below Just a quiet, reflecting pool
And like Narcissus You’ll drown In your reflection And like Narcissus You’ll be paralyzed By your reflection And one day you’ll be running You’ll be running from yourself
Chorus Then how you’ll burn How you’ll beg For one drop to cool your tongue How you’ll bleed Then how you’ll beg To banish the mirror from your face
Interlude What you justify in the present Will be condemned by your children What you justify in the present Will be censured by your children What you excuse in the present Will be hissed at by your children And what you justify in the present Will be condemned by your children And your children’s children
Chorus Then how you’ll burn How you’ll beg To banish the mirror from your face How you’ll burn How you’ll beg For one drop from Lazarus’ hand Then how you’ll burn Then how you’ll beg For one drop from Lazarus’ hand For one drop from Lazarus’ hand For one drop from Lazarus’ hand
Another notch in the belt of the West We do mass slaughter best There is no lake of fire below Hell is to see yourself as you are
History will look on you unkindly History will look on you unkindly History will look on you unkindly
Posted in Features, Reviews on April 21st, 2024 by JJ Koczan
In what I hope will be a defining moment of my day if not the rest of my year, I was sitting with Lee downstairs at the 013 for lunch — some greens and cheese; likewise simple and necessary — and I could feel my brain start to move to what I needed to be doing, some quick writing, starting this post, whatever. But I stopped. I reminded myself, out fucking loud, that I had the time to stay. And so I stayed.
That sounds like an small thing, and maybe it was when set against what the day would bring front to back. And I’m not gonna sit here and try to do some middle-aged-dude wellness philosophy here — neither the place nor the time, and frankly I can’t stand that shit you see on social media, vacuous endorsement of a capitalist idea of how to live; fodder for the tshirts they sell at Target — but as this homecoming has been emotional for me, I’m working not to run away from that.
I got through the writing, the minimal actual amount there was, and got to where I wanted to be well in time for when I wanted to be there. Go figure. Place in time.
—
Roadburn Saturday. Couch Slut on first at The Terminal, diving deep into avant sludge, noise, hardcore, grindcore and some spoken word over piano — Steve Blanco from Imperial Triumphant guesting — and trumpet, no less purposeful in the light jazz than the most slaughtering parts as they brought the released-yesterday You Could Do it Tonight album to life.
It was my first time seeing them — they’re from Brooklyn, so my only real excuse is I’ve never been cool — and there were times where it felt a bit like gazing at someone’s trauma through the sad and poetic storytelling of their songs, but Couch Slut’s aggressive confrontationalism was inner and outer, and they didn’t so much put these narratives on display as they did shove them up your nose like a covid test made of concrete.
The last song they played was longer — I hear that’ll happen with records — but I stuck it out through the intended challenge before stopping in at Hall of Fame to see the band put together by students from the Metal Factory music school. This is their second year featuring a group here, and, well, you want to support the kids. I very clearly was not alone in this thinking, as the room was wall-to-wall. The press of the crowd got to me quickly and I ducked out and back down to the 013 in plenty of time to stop in for a few minutes of Annelies Monseré as she opened the Next Stage with a pastoralia that felt folkish but experimental in its use of drone as more than just a backdrop to the four-part harmonies coming from the stage with the ‘band’ she led. Second flute of the weekend behind Tusmørke last night. Same room. Different context.
My next stop was the main stage for Kavus Torabi‘s commissioned piece, ‘Lion of the Lord’s Elect.’ I had no idea whatsoever what to expect from the set and won’t feign expertise on Torabi’s work through The Utopia Strong, Gong, The Holy Family, and so forth, but from melodic drone to two-drummer cacophony, with sax, bagpipes, synth, guitar, it felt like the construction of a psychedelic temple in that vast hall space. Never quite entirely still, never just about the wash, building up and receding back into its meditations — it was far removed from Couch Slut’s raw hurt and reality in general, a cosmic offering rife with float despite the double dose of kit percussion.
Like a lot of this Roadburn has been for me so far, ‘Lion of the Lord’s Elect’ was a chance to step outside of what I know or might chase down on my own. I’ll stop short of saying you have to step outside your comfort zone — remind yourself you don’t ‘have’ to do anything — but a willingness to take on something unknown is a big part of a commissioned project like this, which only happened because Roadburn made it happen. In its intricacies and overarching flow, proggy noodling and heavier push, it tugged at the limits of where space rock can generally go, and hell’s bells I’m glad I saw it. That hour went fast, and down to the last chime that finished, it was a master’s work. I watched the whole thing.
Feeling antsier today, which might just be fatigue, but still. After Kavus Torabi and co. ended, I moved downstairs to get water and then back up and around 013, looked in on Next Stage, nobody on, and decided to run back to the hotel for a few minutes, take a pill, brush my teeth — the salad/cheese combo had my mouth feeling fuzzy — and take my shoes off for a few minutes. Some of that was nerves for seeing The Keening, the Portland, Oregon, outfit led by Rebecca Vernon (ex-SubRosa) who would shortly perform their 2023 debut, Little Bird (review here) in full on the main stage. The lineup she’s assembled for the tour the band are about to undertake with Bell Witch — they’ll pick up in Spain on a couple days — includes Billy Anderson (too many to list for his production background, all the names tried to escape my brain at once, but he’s handled low end for Blessing the Hogs, High Tone Son of a Bitch and a slew of others) on bass and Nathan Carson of Witch Mountain on drums, as well as Andrea Morgan (Exulansis) on violin and vocals and Christy Cather (Ails, Ludicra) on guitar and some vocals, and if all that pedigree doesn’t do it for you, fine, the band stand on their own anyway.
The main stage has a lot to offer in terms of a flow from one act to the next, and reminds me a bit of years past in how a linear progression is set up throughout the day. That applies less to Kavus Torabi than to The Keening and the three acts that will follow them, but you can still find threads from one to the other, The Keening into Lankum, into Khanate and Blood Incantation. Or at least you can put a story to it that makes sense in sound. It’s not just one band piled on another. There’s thought, and heart, put into it.
I took pictures for two songs of The Keening and went up to the balcony for “Little Bird,” which Vernon dedicated to the people of Palestine, and the rest of the set. After a couple minutes I had to sort of force myself to put the camera down, put my phone away, repeat my various mantras about Freeburn this and that, living the thing instead of just covering it, etc., and I think I was probably better off for that. Little Bird, which has only grown on me since last year — and I liked it plenty when it was reviewed — culminates with “The Truth,” the studio version of which is 17 minutes long. No, I didn’t time it from the stage, but it was no less expansive in-person in its multi-movement unfolding and almost chaptered feel. Vernon’s voice is seething at times, the patterns of her lyrics rooted in ’90s post-hardcore emphatic repetition but so far removed from that thing as to be her own. I’d been looking forward to seeing them since I found out I’d be at Roadburn, and I’m not saying I wasn’t going to check out Khanate in a couple hours, but in many respects they were my priority of today and the fest overall. They did not disappoint, and Morgan nailed the operatics later in “The Truth,” making it all the more gorgeous and stirring. I hope the tour goes well, hope they do more.
Back and forth a bit in the break, but the truth is I was tired, found a corner, and stayed there, so it wasn’t much more than getting water. I ate a pack of almonds I brought from home and had tucked in my camera bag. I did a couple Hungarian lessons on my phone. I did not socialize. I waited until about 15 minutes before Lankum went on, then went to the photo pit to do the thing. There’s always one lonely day at Roadburn. Should’ve been yesterday, was today.
Even Lankum’s line check was heavy, though, and it was mostly the four of them singing. That was a thing to dig, even if Irish folk ‘n’ drone isn’t exactly going to pull you out of your own head most of the time. I recognized “Go Dig My Grave” from last year’s False Lankum later in their set and I very obviously wasn’t alone in that. The main stage room was as full as I’d yet seen it — true I wasn’t in it at all on Thursday, when Chelsea Wolfe played, so if you want to just take that to mean “quite crowded indeed,” go ahead — and with arrangement dynamics that came through in vocals that moved into and out of four-part harmonies, found instruments swapped out between songs and persistent low end hum that I think came off the big drum in back that threatened to swallow melody and audience alike and I’m pretty sure was on purpose, Lankum harnessed traditionalism to suit the purposes of their craft, whether it was an original piece or not. When they left, the P.A. played Cinder Well’s “No Summer,” and that felt right.
Khanate were next.
It would not be my first time seeing Alan Dubin (O.L.D., Gnaw, etc.), Stephen O’Malley (SunnO))), Burning Witch, etc.), James Plotkin (O.L.D., Lotus Eaters, Atomsmasher, etc.) and Tim Wyskida (Blind Idiot God, Insect Ark, etc.) together on stage. One dark, deeply inebriated night two decades ago, I was in their presence as they played a Southern Lord showcase at SXSW that also featured Outlaw Order, Earthride (RIP Sherman), Place of Skulls and Graves at Sea. Yes, I had to look up when it was. And no, I’m not telling you that to be cool. I’m not cool. I’m just old. But Khanate were my prevailing memory of that evening, the singular bleakness and scathe that they wrought, and while I’ve seen the component members of the band in other projects since, there was no question that their performing together under the Khanate banner for the first time in reportedly 19 years was one of the most crucial opportunities Roadburn 2024 provided. There’s a reason they were the first band announced for the fest. It was a big fucking deal.
Their surprise 2023 album, To Be Cruel (review here), underscored the aural black hole they’ve always been. It wasn’t about reinventing their approach so much as about being brave enough to try to make those awful sounds again. Understand: Khanate stand at the end point of music, extreme enough in their mission and end result that nothing but hyperbole can rightly apply. Save for O’Malley tuning between songs, they offered no moments of respite or safe pockets in which to dwell. No cathartic release. They stood close together on stage under stark spotlights. No video screen. Nothing to distract you from the punishment on offer. The only flourish around O’Malley’s glacial riffs and Plotkin’s coinciding rumble was the caustic feedback either of their own or of Dubin’s making with his sampler, noisebox, or whatever the fuck it was. No rescue came. No melody. No letup. “Kick a helpless thing,” and the crowd was the helpless thing. If it was arthouse, it was the moldy basement underneath that smells like rotting meat and no one knows why.
At the Hall of Fame, Full Earth would play nearly the entirety of their own set during Khanate’s. Not a conflict of note for most here, I would think. I did abscond up there to try to see them at least for a few minutes, but the line was out the door — classic Roadburn indication that you’re not getting in — and yeah, I’ve got a pass, but I figured all was well, I was glad a whole bunch of other people would get to the show even if I didn’t, and hightailed it back to the 013. Gotta get your steps in. I’m pretty sure Khanate were still playing the same song when I got back. No summer here either. Lonely day at Roadburn? Fuck you, here’s shit-coated obliteration instead.
And maybe I was done when they were. A long, long time ago and talking about another band, I told a guy I knew that it wasn’t about the notes they were playing, or the notes they were not playing, but about the spaces in between. That’s truer of Khanate than it was of that other band, and with Khanate, even those tense, empty spaces feel like fingernails on the eyeballs. Thusly bled, I walked back down the row of bars around the corner from the 013 — it has a name, who can remember? — and watched humans having dance parties, talking with friends, drinking, laughing, living. Cognitive dissonance to the fact that the world just ended.
Or didn’t, since there’s still another day of Roadburn tomorrow. See you then, and thanks for reading in the meantime. More pics after the jump.
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 24th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Behold Roadburn, Roadburning. Full-album performances, commissioned pieces, whatever the hell Xiu Xiu have going on I guess ever, and a glut of names you either know and are stoked on or don’t know and will likely see on festival bills throughout Europe for the next however many years.
Inter Arma have a new record called New Heaven that doesn’t have a release date yet that I’ve seen but that they’re slated to perform. They, like The Keening, come from the roster of Relapse Records, and The Keening will also have a full album performance for their debut, Little Bird (review here) (they’ll meet up on tour with Bell Witch shortly after; Bell Witch also play Roadburn, likely the first day given tour routing). Grails and Dool also feature, and there are special performances from Die Wilde Jagd, Couch Slut, Verwoed and Void ov Voices, and frankly the fact that White Ward can make it out of Ukraine to play at all should be considered one as well.
More than you could ever hope to fully experience in a span of four days and still just a fraction of what’s actually on offer. As I said in the first sentence: Roadburn, Roadburning. Creative director Walter posted the following on socials. There was a PR wire thing too, but this is a little simpler and I helped edit his quote, so I’ve got it there for posterity for myself as well. If you want more info on any of the below, you know how to use the internet. I’m sure the PR is out there.
Dig:
With this announcement, it all starts to come together. Artistically and musically, we are connecting dots between artists, genres, and audiences. We’re drawing lines between new and exciting bands and Roadburn veterans, attendees new and old. But the key is connection and inclusion. We are finally aligning all the creative elements with which we have been building Roadburn 2024.
These latest additions are instrumental in creating the communal joy of exploration we hope to foster in this year’s Roadburn.
—
Twenty two names have been added to the Roadburn 2024 line up today:
Angry Blackman arms and sleepers Couch Slvt performing You Could Do It Tonight Death Goals DOOL performing The Shape of Fluidity Fluisteraars presents: Manifestaties van de Ontworteling Grails Inter Arma performing New Heaven JeGong John Francis Flynn Kavus Torabi Miaux Pruillip Scaler Spill Gold Stormo Takh The Keening performing Little Bird Tusmørke Verwoed performing The Mother Void Ov Voices presents Roadburn to Sungate Xiu Xiu presents The police bear such resemblance to those they pursue
Stay tuned for more line up announcements – including our free Wednesday night pre-festival warm up show. For all info and tickets head toroadburn.com.
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 23rd, 2024 by JJ Koczan
I said when the Bell WitchEuropean dates went up yesterday that I’d be posting about the tour again, and The Keening are why. The Portland-based dark atmospheric troupe led by Rebecca Vernon, formerly of SubRosa, will support the Seattle death-doom two-piece for three-plus weeks of road time, and as it’s their first trip overseas, it seemed prudent to mark the occasion.
The Keening‘s debut album, Little Bird (review here), came out last Fall through Relapse, and while it’s of course not Vernon‘s first time traveling internationally for shows, it is that for the group she’s assembled around her to bring this material to life on stage, and given the breadth and heart poured into that record, it’s a set I’d like to see. Having Bell Witch on after to turn your melancholy into an abyssal misery is just a bonus.
Oh, and The Keening were also confirmed for Roadburn today playing Little Bird in full. So there’s that, too.
From social media:
We are beyond thrilled to join Bell Witch on three and a half weeks of their seven-week European tour this April and May.
I’m a longtime fan of Bell Witch, ever since my previous roommate Christian Creek shared their 2011 demo and first album “Longing” with me in 2012 or so. I thought they were one of the most authentic bands I’d ever heard, and seeing them live in Seattle soon after cemented that impression. I was intimidated by the sheer dark power they wielded on stage. Their pain seemed too immense for the room. They were making music to survive. It’s been amazing to see Bell Witch grow and expand over the years into one of the most influential doom bands to grace the metal scene.
From Bell Witch: “In March we embark on an 8 week odyssey across Europe. From the frostbitten North to the Hellenic land of myths in the South, the Emerald Isle to the Balkan states we’re playing many cities for the first time ever…
Along the way we’ll be joined for stretches by friends old & new in FVNERALS, Knoll, Esoteric, Thantifaxath & The Keening. We’re excited to share the stage with bands who bring something truly unique & powerful to their music. Tickets are on sale now at the link in our bio. We can’t wait to see new & familiar faces alike.”
Posted in Reviews on November 6th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
It’s been nearly half a decade, but I’m not sure I’m completely over SubRosa breaking up yet. That pioneering post-metallic Salt Lake City outfit, fronted by Rebecca Vernon who founded The Keening after as a solo-project, released their final LP in 2016’s For This We Fought the Battle of Ages (review here), which was encompassing with a clarity of vision and purpose that pushed even further into the atmospheric textures wrought across 2013’s More Constant Than the Gods (review here), defining a sound that could be dead-minimal or unspeakably heavy, was undeniably Americana, and carried emotional presence and outward purpose in its lyrics and delivery across the board. They announced they were done in 2019. I may never get over it. But I kind of understand a bit more. The Keening‘s debut album, the six-song/51-minute Little Bird — on Relapse — puts some distance between Vernon and a doom underground it’s easy to imagine one might’ve been burnt out on if these were the songs looking to be expressed and one felt obligated to a specific tonal assault.
The other four former members of SubRosa have continued on with The Otolith — their debut album, Folium Limina (review here), surfaced last year via Blues Funeral — and begun a new progression off of some of their former outfit’s heavier aspects. If one wants to relate The Keening to SubRosa — as apparently (this) one does — then Vernon is drawing more from the melancholia and the curtain of ambient sadness of that band’s style, and with a modus that’s still very much hers, offering them recontextualized through varying arrangements of acoustic guitar as on the opener “Autumn,” goth church organ on “Eden,” strings and piano throughout, wisps of violin coming and going, and layers of voices alongside Vernon, who worked with producer Billy Anderson (Sleep, Neurosis, Acid King, etc.) and Nathan Carson (drummer for Witch Mountain and now the live incarnation of The Keening; also founder of Nanotear Booking) on the recording in Dec. 2020, following the project’s instrumental piano debut earlier that year on Blues Funeral‘s Women of Doom (review here).
So The Keening isn’t interested in being SubRosa, clearly. What takes shape gradually over the course of Little Bird has more in common with SubRosa‘s Subdued: Live at Roadburn 2016 (review here) semi-acoustic reworkings of their material, but is unmistakably heavier in stretches of “Autumn,” “Eden,” the penultimate “The Hunter II” and in the culmination of extended closer “The Truth” — it’s 17:30, but the almost operatic crescendo is voice as much as instrument (also voice-as-instrument) as part of a wash with guitar, bass, drums, strings, maybe some horns, I don’t even know, circa 13 minutes, and it makes its way out gradually there with room for birdsong and a kinda-sorta-secret track of what might be a harp but was definitely made with elven magic in any case — while remaining true to the structural patterns of Vernon‘s craft, poetic in the lyrics and in the instrumental progressions alike, and evocative of doom in some of its tempos certainly, but so much more intent on texture than impact.
The space in the mix, where it isn’t purposefully left open, is filled with mournful melodies and Vernon‘s voice aligning itself with Appalachian folk as well as modern post-heavy with just that ever-present undercurrent of spit-punk, dynamic arrangements and a style that has all the more forward potential for its malleability, but that doesn’t pull pieces of itself in and out for no reason. That church organ on “Eden” and the heavier roll that ensues as Vernon leads the chorus with the repeated line “Eden is receding” before it drops to keys ahead of the three-minute mark, specifically goth as the strings return and the song realigns for its big push — it would be as weighted as The Keening get but for “The Hunter II” mirroring on side B — but the harmonies after four minutes are even more affecting, and they carry to the end of that movement before a meditation of piano and quietest voice cap the song.
But just as one example drawn from the six inclusions, “Eden” is woven. It’s not haphazard or forced in its changes, and even its last shift to the soft ending is made gently, with silence as a place gone to and returned from. With the flowing violins and echoing layers of vocals, to call Little Bird graceful feels superfluous, but it is anyhow, and no less so as the title-track sweeps through a miniature version of its longer build before resetting in a wistful piano piece for which I’d love to see a lyric sheet, and making its way into a wash that’s preface to “The Truth” (which I guess is side C of the vinyl, or left off it), a kind of centerpiece at nine minutes, but more intimate than sprawling, despite that blossom at the finish.
This hint-at-what’s-coming modus applies to “The Hunter I” and “The Hunter II” as well, with the former flashing an edge of distortion in its early choruses while holding back its own payoff to a kind of droning nod before transitioning into “The Hunter II” with a tension of electric guitar that gives over to soothing folkish Mellotron (or -ish sounds) for an initially drumless two minutes, reimagining ’60s crossover folk until about three and a half minutes into the total of just less than five, Little Bird gets its “Stones From the Sky” moment of dense riffing, complemented by violin, layered in vocals, Vernon returning with the line, “I can’t wait until I die so I won’t see you again,” repeated. Richly progressive folk-informed heavy post-rock and a sick burn to boot. That ending is a surprise, and not the first, but its push leaves little room for argument, and by the time you’re there in listening, you’re long since either on board for the go or not. At that point, Vernon can do basically whatever she wants.
Enter “The Truth.” Beginning with standalone piano, “The Truth” unfurls its troubled landscape in its own time, and keeps a chorus based around, “So I ask you baby/Did the truth set you free?” (with changes in who’s being freed), at its core for this first movement before growing quiet at about five minutes and setting forth on its outbound path through the apex and into a staring-at-the-mountains silence. Perhaps a great asset for The Keening and Vernon as she moves forward with the band will be how pointedly heavy metal Little Bird isn’t, how genuinely moving it is, and how the album might appeal to listeners beyond the heavy underground’s subculture. But that’s a concern beyond the album itself, which repositions Vernon on new ground to explore while retaining the strength of songwriting and performance that made this project so anticipated in the first place.
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 17th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
An anticipated return for Rebecca Vernon, formerly of SubRosa. Her solo-project, The Keening, has been in the conversation for four years, but aside from one compilation track, there hasn’t been much output until now. Little Bird will be Vernon‘s debut album as The Keening. It’s set to release Oct. 6 through Relapse, and the first single is the title-track; a nine-plus minute excursion with a richly melancholic melody and an arrangement that’s chamber-heavy in a way that’s not entirely dissimilar from some of Crippled Black Phoenix‘s litany of sorrows, but informed of course by Vernon‘s Americana and folk songwriting style.
I went and saw the Indigo Girls a couple months back, after years of my wife telling me how great they are live. They were brilliant, of course. That’s who The Keening should tour with. They’d blow minds. Yeah, I’m sure it’ll go over well at Decibel Metal & Beer Fest, but the folk in “Little Bird” could have a broader reach too. It’s not pop, necessarily, but there’s an accessibility to the sway of “Little Bird,” I think mostly because it’s beautiful, and that goes a long way.
The PR wire had this on the subject:
The Keening (ex-Subrosa) Announce Debut Album, Little Bird
Watch the music video for the album’s title track now.
Little Bird will be released October 6th via Relapse and the band will play inaugural live performances this fall/winter.
The Keening— the solo music project of Rebecca Vernon (ex-SubRosa)—announce debut album, Little Bird, out October 6, 2023 on Relapse Records. An ultra-melodic foray into haunted bogs, endless wells, secret crimes, jeweled cages and the unenviable curse of being a murder witness abound, Little Bird carries Vernon’s signature sounds throughout— deeply moving passages give away to cinematic, sprawling moments of chambered doom. As dark as this sounds, Little Bird also fills the air with a sense of magic and wonder – there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.
The Keening weaves a web of lush orchestration, American Gothic sensibilities and wintry murder ballads set against a backdrop of dark, shimmering folk. Vernon’s previous band SubRosa echoes in The Keening’s chamber doom, flowing with flute, strings, harp, French horn, piano, organ and hammered dulcimer.
The Keening’s Rebecca Vernon comments: “I’m really excited to finally start releasing this music into the ether, along with the album art, and the music video for single ‘Little Bird.’ I think the film company 10 Seconds to Comply (Ken Whiting, Andrew Bonazelli and Manny OA) and their hired crew did a phenomenal job pulling together this music video and bringing their beautiful vision to light. Thanks to my friend Lucy Sharapata for playing the lead so well, Andrea Morgan and Teresa Byrne for making time to be part of it, and Andrew and his wife Mikki for hosting us at their house! I’m also excited to share the album art – two oil paintings by Lis Pardoe of Portland. Thanks to Relapse Records for making this happen!”
Little Bird, track listing: Autumn Eden Little Bird The Hunter I The Hunter II The Truth
Largely composed at a retreat in Joshua Tree and a friend’s family homestead in Kamas, Utah, Little Bird was recorded in December 2020 at Hallowed Halls in Portland, Oregon with “Engine-ear” Billy Anderson. Anderson’s long resume includes such luminaries as Melvins, Neurosis, Mr. Bungle, Fantomas, High on Fire, Bell Witch, Amenra, Agalloch, Cathedral, Cattle Decapitation, Red House Painters, Sick of it All, Sleep, and Swans.
Anderson collaborated with Vernon and Witch Mountain drummer Nathan Carson as co-producers of the recording of the album. A host of Portland’s finest session musicians lent their talents to Little Bird, including Andrea Morgan (Exulansis) on violin. Little Bird was completed in July 2021, mixed by Billy Anderson and mastered by Justin Weis at Trakworx in San Francisco.
See The Keening’s live debut performances this September including headline shows & opening for Agalloch. The Keening will also perform at Decibel Metal & Beer Fest: Denver in December. A full list of announced tour dates is available below.
The Keening, on tour: September 15 Bellingham, WA @ Shakedown September 16 Seattle, WA @ Clock-Out Lounge September 22 Eugene, OR @ John Henry’s September 23 Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom w/ Agalloch, Thief December 2 Denver, CO @ Decibel Metal & Beer Fest
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 6th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
The Keening is Rebecca Vernon from SubRosa, and that’s all you really need to know, though I guess the fact that there’s an album, Relapse is releasing it, and a live band will take shape as well featuring, among others, Nathan Carson of Witch Mountain, is useful knowledge as well. You might also note the part below that says the record was produced by Billy Anderson and Carson and that those sessions happened two and a half years ago, im Dec. 2020.
Aside from meaning The Keening‘s debut will be nearly three years old by the time it arrives — which is by no means a detriment; not like it’s going to sound dated — that follows Vernon‘s appearance on the compilation Women of Doom (review here), which came out earlier in that plague year and was a decisively solo outing, a track called “A Shadow Covers Your Face” that you can stream at the bottom of this post.
Of course, there’s no guarantee that the one song thus far released by the project is representative of everything Vernon has going on with it, and indeed the PR wire info below describes some not-just-guitar-bass-drums arrangements that would seem to confirm that. I look forward to hearing it myself and seeing where the album goes. The feeling I get is the answer to that is it goes pretty deep.
Here’s info:
THE KEENING (ex-SUBROSA) SIGNS TO RELAPSE RECORDS
ANNOUNCE SEPTEMBER HEADLINE LIVE PERFORMANCES & SUPPORTING AGALLOCH
THE KEENING —the solo musical project of Rebecca Vernon (SubRosa)—signs to Relapse Records & announces live performances in September!
Rebecca Vernon Comments:
“I’m very excited and honored to join the Relapse family and look forward to the journey ahead with them. This music has been a long time in the making, and a lot of blood, sweat and travail went into it. I hope those who connect with it find it worth the wait. A lot of thanks goes to the many who have helped me along the way, but especially to my family, and Billy Anderson, Andrea Morgan and Nate Carson, who were the most heavily involved in the making of the album.”
THE KEENING weaves a web of lush orchestration, American Gothic sensibilities and wintry murder ballads set against a backdrop of dark, shimmering folk. Vernon’s previous band SubRosa echoes in THE KEENING’s chamber doom, flowing with flute, strings, harp, French horn, piano, organ and hammered dulcimer. Ultra-melodic forays into haunted bogs, endless wells, secret crimes, jeweled cages and the unenviable curse of being a murder witness abound. Dark as this sounds, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.
Rebecca Vernon was the lead singer, guitarist, and primary songwriter of Salt Lake City’s acclaimed SubRosa. She ended that 13-year project in 2018 to focus on THE KEENING.
Largely composed at a retreat in Joshua Tree and a friend’s family homestead in Kamas, Utah, THE KEENING’s upcoming album was recorded in December 2020 at Hallowed Halls in Portland, Oregon with “Engine-ear” Billy Anderson. Anderson’s long resume includes such luminaries as Melvins, Neurosis, Mr. Bungle, Fantomas, High on Fire, Bell Witch, Amenra, Agalloch, Cathedral, Cattle Decapitation, Red House Painters, Sick of it All, Sleep, and more.
Anderson collaborated with Vernon and Witch Mountain drummer Nathan Carson as co-producers of the recording of the album. A host of Portland’s finest session musicians lent their talents to the album, including Andrea Morgan of Exulansis on violin.
THE KEENING is primed to release this brand new album via Relapse Records in 2023. More information about the album will be made available in the weeks and months to come.
THE KEENING TOUR DATES: Fri 9/15 – Bellingham, WA – Shakedown Sat 9/16 – Seattle, WA – Clock-Out Lounge Fri 9/22 – Eugene, OR – John Henry’s Sat 9/23 – Portland OR – Crystal Ballroom w/ Agalloch, Thief
