THE KEENING Sets Devotion for October 16, Shares “A Little Bit Of Blood” Video

Photo Credit: Angela H. Brown

Rebecca Vernon, formerly of SUBROSA, will return with the second album from THE KEENING, Devotion, Oct. 16 through Relapse Records.

The album expands the dark, atmospheric terrain of THE KEENING’s debut, Little Bird, combining doom, folk, goth and post-rock while placing Vernon’s voice and multi-instrumental songwriting at its center.

Lead single “A Little Bit Of Blood” begins with sparse acoustic guitar and Vernon’s haunting vocal before opening into a considerably larger, heavier arrangement. Its accompanying video was filmed over a weekend in Detroit as an homage to Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive.

“Ten Seconds To Comply film company did an incredible job on this music video working within strict parameters, including time,” Vernon said. “We shot it all over a weekend in Detroit and seeing the skill, organization, vision, and passion they brought to this project — an homage to the movie Only Lovers Left Alive — was really awe-inspiring.”

The video was directed, edited and colored by Ken Whiting and written by Andrew Bonazelli.

Much of Devotion is built around contrasts. Vernon wrote material in dramatically different surroundings, including the solitude of a cabin at a deserted Idaho ski resort and a senior living community in Spokane, Washington, where she stayed with her father.

Her father, who died May 11, 2025, became central to the completed album and its artwork.

“The album is dedicated to my dad,” Vernon said. “He was one of my greatest champions and supporters of my music.”

That connection extends to Marald van Haasteren’s cover artwork. Vernon requested the inclusion of a dragonfly, which she and her sister associate with their father. Emerging from the stem of a poppy, it also represents the record’s competing interpretations of devotion: addiction on one side and love on the other.

The seven-track album was recorded at Hallowed Halls in Portland in April 2022, with Billy Anderson and Nathan Carson again working with Vernon following their involvement with Little Bird. Vernon performed drums, guitar, piano, organ and hammered dulcimer and supplied the majority of the vocals, with additional guest vocalists appearing on the record.

The first four tracks form the multipart title composition — “Golden Thread,” “Fitful Sleep,” “The King” and “O Mother” — followed by “A Little Bit Of Blood,” “Time Travel” and “The Murder Of Anna Brown.”

Devotion arrives Oct. 16 via Relapse Records. Watch the video for "A Little Bit Of Blood" below: