Smokehole Sky
feel: nordic-tinged chamber-folk epic – icy-glow to blazing. 6/8 - 98 bpm (verses) -> 7/8 (bridge drums) -> 6/8 (final) - d dorian. instruments: cello lead (melody, countermelodies, feature solo), tagelharpa drone/ostinato, low frame drum + tapan (deep), upright bass, breathy woodwind (bass recorder), fiddle-viola pad, glock-chimes; handclaps in bridge. voices: classical female soprano lead - light highlands lilt - lightly rolled r (ɾ) - open a=ah; whisper-to-soar dynamic; no backing choir. language: english (with respectful single-word invocations from tlingit and haida). arrangement: tagelharpa+drone intro -> v1 -> pre -> chorus -> v2 -> pre -> chorus -> cello solo 16 bars (modal ornaments) -> bridge (7/8 drum-chant) -> key lift +2 -> final double chorus -> pipe-of-wind outro. production: vocal close then wide; cello forward; tagelharpa dry; drums thunder but tight; short hall. hook motif: D F E | D A G | F E D. drone D–A.
Smokehole Sky
feel: nordic-tinged chamber-folk epic – icy-glow to blazing. 6/8 - 98 bpm (verses) -> 7/8 (bridge drums) -> 6/8 (final) - d dorian. instruments: cello lead (melody, countermelodies, feature solo), tagelharpa drone/ostinato, low frame drum + tapan (deep), upright bass, breathy woodwind (bass recorder), fiddle-viola pad, glock-chimes; handclaps in bridge. voices: classical female soprano lead - light highlands lilt - lightly rolled r (ɾ) - open a=ah; whisper-to-soar dynamic; no backing choir. language: english (with respectful single-word invocations from tlingit and haida). arrangement: tagelharpa+drone intro -> v1 -> pre -> chorus -> v2 -> pre -> chorus -> cello solo 16 bars (modal ornaments) -> bridge (7/8 drum-chant) -> key lift +2 -> final double chorus -> pipe-of-wind outro. production: vocal close then wide; cello forward; tagelharpa dry; drums thunder but tight; short hall. hook motif: D F E | D A G | F E D. drone D–A.
Lyrics
a raven watches ember-light.
He tilts his head where secrets hide,
the house of cedar sleeping bright.
A chief has bundled up the sky-
three knots of night the world can’t see.
The raven breathes a silent why
and slips inside the mystery.
Hush-hear the feathered wheel of night,
how shadow learns the shape of light.
Raven, steal the dark from time,
thread day across the winter line.
Loose stars like seeds from cedar twine,
bring back the sun we left behind.
Raven, carry through the smokehole high-
leave us a sky to navigate by.
He turned to dust, became a breath,
was born where laughter meets a cry.
A child who played with woven death
until the first small knots untied.
He tossed a spark-the sea turned glass,
the constellations broke and ran.
He threw the moon, a milk-white mass,
and warmed his hands on dawn’s first span.
Hush-hear the feathered wheel of night,
how shadow learns the shape of light.
Raven, steal the dark from time,
thread day across the winter line.
Loose stars like seeds from cedar twine,
bring back the sun we left behind.
Raven, carry through the smokehole high-
leave us a sky to navigate by.
Yéil! Yaahl!
Dís… Gugán…
Kúng… Juuyáay…
Feather-black, ember-bright-lift the light!
Raven, steal the dark from time,
thread day across the winter line.
Loose stars like seeds from cedar twine,
bring back the sun we left behind.
Raven, carry through the smokehole high-
leave us a sky to navigate by.
Leave us bright enough to see,
to steer by hope across the sea.