Band:	The Keening
Album:	Little Bird
Style:	Chamber music, Experimental rock, Neofolk, Doom metal
Release date:	October 2023

01. Autumn
02. Eden
03. Little Bird
04. The Hunter I
05. The Hunter II
06. The Truth

After SubRosa disbanded in 2019, four fifths of the band’s final recording line-up went off to form The Otolith, whose 2022 debut Folium Limina was a commendable replication of their previous project’s sound. However, having now heard Little Bird, I wonder just how much of the creative inspiration behind SubRosa was located in that final fifth.

The Keening is the solo project of Rebecca Vernon, the former vocalist-guitarist of SubRosa and, alongside Sarah Pendleton, one of two members who were involved with SubRosa for the entirety of its existence. While this is touted as a solo project, Vernon did call upon the services of Andrea Morgan (Exulansis, ex-Megaton Leviathan) and Nate Carson (Witch Mountain) as session violinist and drummer, respectively; both individuals are also helping Vernon turn The Keening into a live band, along with producer Billy Anderson and Christy Cather of Ludicra. Whether the remaining instruments on Little Bird, which include flute, strings, harp, French horn, piano, organ and hammered dulcimer, were all performed by Vernon is unclear, but if so it’s an impressive demonstration of her talents.

What that ensemble of instruments might indicate, however, is that The Keening is, unlike The Otolith, more than just a reproduction of SubRosa sonically. Truth be told, for the majority of its runtime, this debut album from Vernon is not metal; distorted riffs do come and go on a majority of the songs here, but they represent the minority of each track’s runtime, and even when present they are sometimes relatively low in the mix, similar to albums such as Chelsea Wolfe’s Abyss. The ‘core’ of Little Bird has more in common with dark folk and chamber music; it’s intriguing for another chamber-rock/metal hybrid to come not long after the extraordinary Ode And Elegy self-titled debut from last year, and like that album, Little Bird is quite captivating.

One thing I enjoy about The Keening is that it doesn’t sound like SubRosa, but it sounds like it was written by someone who was in SubRosa; part of that naturally comes from Vernon’s vocals, but even in the absence of sludgy doom riffs, some of the same atmospheres and melodies cross over. It’s no surprise to read that Morgan is a fan of SubRosa, as the violin parts on opening track “Autumn” bear a lot of similarities to the melodies that occurred on records from Vernon’s former band. As for the rest of this song, it is mostly acoustic, but it gradually grows in stature as it progresses, partly from the subtle addition of depth to the instrumental base, but also due to some lovely layering of Vernon’s singing.

One thing that “Autumn” does lack is an appearance from any of those ‘additional’ instruments mentioned earlier, but “Eden” swiftly addresses this by opening with organ. “Eden” also represents the first descent into more metallic waters on Little Bird; there is a doominess to the heavy passages on this song, but while all the same components are there, something about the end result feels distinct to SubRosa. Maybe it’s just the softer guitar tone, but there’s also something more soaring and delicate about the heavier side of The Keening.

This side reveals itself on all the remaining songs, but often only in confined cameos; the volume ebbs and flows across the lengthy, beautiful title track, fluctuating between passages of harmonized vocals with layered strings and then dropping back to just Vernon’s voice and piano, and the incorporation of guitar distortion into the final minute or so adds a small but necessary boost to give the climax the required impact. The two parts of “The Hunter” nicely juxtapose one another; “The Hunter II” simultaneously features both the most metal section of the record in its closing minutes, but also is the main showcase for the chamber instruments like the flute and strings, while “The Hunter I” is more consistent in style, which allows it to more fully explore the emotions conjured by its warm layers and tender melodies.

The conclusion to this record is an ambitious one, with final song “The Truth” running for over 17 minutes. If I were to point out any aspect of Little Bird that I’m not wholly keen on, it would be the heavy ‘chorus’ in the first half of this track; something about the vocal refrain here just doesn’t work for me. In contrast, the second half of “The Truth” is potentially the peak of the album; starting off with meandering piano, it gradually grows more voluminous and evocative, with operatic vocals appearing for the first time to add an extra dramatic flair.

Given the proximity of their releases and respective similarities, I do find myself slightly inclined to compare Little Bird with Ode And Elegy and Folium Limina, and while I don’t think it’s quite as remarkable a stylistic fusion as the one that Ode And Elegy pulled off last year, I find myself to be more charmed by The Keening’s debut than that of The Otolith. Without retreading old ground, Vernon has admirably rendered her artistic vision, and in doing so has produced an understated record with a wealth of emotion.