The Keening: Devotion

Darkness consumes the day earlier and a crisp breeze takes over the warm, once-summer air. Leaves wither away as they reach the earth’s ground. The Keening arises once more with the return of a seven-track album titled Devotion, and what better way to enter the new season than with a gothic, doom, folksy soundtrack under the harvest moon? 

Former SubRosa vocalist Rebecca Vernon continues her solo career as The Keening. Shortly after her debut album Little Bird, Vernon began work on her latest release and started with its name. “Devotion is an oblique or ironic reference to the dark side of devotion, like addiction and obsession, but as my dad passed away, I started thinking about the more positive side of devotion that we think of when we hear the word because my dad was a really devoted man,  father and husband,” Vernon says. 

Little Bird was crucial for the production of Devotion. They not only share similarities in sound but in themes as well. Devotion varies in production, instrumentation and inspiration, but one was inherently needed for the other to exist, which is why The Keening is far more than just music; it is grief, sadness, love and sorrow. Vernon makes herself known in her sound and doesn’t rely solely on lyrics to convey what she means. 

“I learned a lot during the mix of Devotion ⎯ we were at the very end of Little Bird and we went back and remixed Little Bird based on the things we learned from Devotion; it’s interesting how those two overlap,” Vernon says. This was just the beginning of her process; Vernon goes into depth from a production standpoint. 

“When I write, I tend to do best when I go away somewhere, outside of my normal life and that’s what I did at the cabin. I was in isolation for a month, and I did still work at the time but in the evening I was still writing music. Then a couple months later, I took out the songs; they were halfway done. I finished layering them, I finished putting the finishing touches on them, and then did the demos and got ready to record a few months after that,” she says. 

This time around, Vernon said her process was a little smoother with mixing help from Billy Anderson, but it wasn’t easy. Vernon had suffered through a depressive episode during her process and found it challenging to stay motivated. This album reflects her vulnerability and follows themes of injustice, grief and anger as she lets it be an outlet for her thoughts. At times, she mentioned hitting a chord with her emotions while playing a riff and tearing up in the middle of it. 

“If I can get that kind of reaction out of myself, I feel like that’s a good thing because something is getting imprinted into the songs that hopefully other people can feel too,” Vernon says.

Not only has Vernon taken a big step to launch her solo career, but she also mentioned taking a writing risk on “Devotion Ⅱ – Fitful Sleep,” which she said was the closest she’d come to classical music — a prime example of a complicated piece she’d written. Vernon also mentioned that this song signifies big drug companies profiting off of addiction. 

After being asked about her personal favorite, Vernon mentioned the track “The Murder of Anna Brown.” “The murder of Anna Brown is inspired by the book The Killers of the Flower Moon (by David Grann). I read the book first, and the book is a lot more in depth with the history of what happened with the Osage Indian Reservation and the Osage Native Americans and what happened with them.” She continues, “It ties into bigger themes of oppression, genocide and the murdered or missing indigenous persons movement (MMIR).” 

SLUG is celebrating The Keening by holding a listening party for the release of Devotion, and would love for you to join at Aces High Saloon on Oct. 16th — more details on Instagram @thekeeningmusic for future shows and events. —Litzi Estrada

Read more from Litzi Estrada:
Local Review: Mortus — Father of Flesh
Local Review: Hibernaut / Face Pulp — Split with Face Pulp

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