Behind The Tracks: Siren´s Rain - Keepers (Single) (2021)

Keepers is the first track from Rise Forth, Siren’s Rain’s first full-length album. The title Keepers comes from the first line of the song, “We are Keepers, of the Earth, warriors of honesty”. The lyrical content of the track discusses the battle for the planet between greedy corporations and those who are fighting to protect the earth’s resources. The events at Standing Rock, and the concept of Water Protectors, influenced this song in terms of the imagery and intention behind it, and the notion of actively protecting the earth against these greedy, nefarious entities. As a person born in the 80s and raised in the 90s, imagery from Captain Planet also influenced Rena in the crafting of the lyrics.

Musically, this song was first sketched out with guitar, bass and vocals. Mandolin was added at the next writing session. Ed and Rena were playing around with a call back vocal for the chorus- something that the audience could easily sing along to with the band that was catchy and inspires one to want to belt it out. Will, the bassist, often cues around vocals, and creates his parts as a compliment to the guitar work. The bass is ever moving, winding around the guitars and vocals. The drums were created from the guitar and bass work, using the anticipation of what is the next logical part or riff in the song, to help develop both the pulse and the fills/flourishes. In this album, the band wanted to intentionally incorporate elements from songs and music that we had not included before, such as tempo stops, breaks and key changes. You see this in Keepers with the mandolin stops. The mandolin was situated around the vocals and the bass. It’s incredibly tricky to play at that speed and have the sound come out clear. At first, Mike (mandolin) was unsure of what to do, and then it fell into place, and that’s that.

Keepers was selected as the first single off the album as a nod to the new direction embarked upon by the band, which features mandolin, harp, nyckelharpa, frame drums, and group vocals. The speed and ferocity of the drums elevates the solid foundation of the guitar and bass section. In times of global warming, social unrest, political corruption and just trying to be a person, Keepers was written as an anthem of our responsibility to look at our host planet and pay attention.