Roots

Lyrics

[Intro] [A low hurdy-gurdy drone and a muscular, walking bassline lock into a confident mid-tempo strut. The frame drum strikes with a resonant, booming thud. A sparse hammered dulcimer drops cold, percussive notes like freezing rain. The medieval fiddle draws one long, raspy, dissonant screech] [Spoken Intro] [Female Vocal - Grete] [Style: Cool Commanding Contralto, Clipped Spoken Delivery, Unreachable Precision] I never heard you coming. Only earth upon the threshold. Stranger rain caught in your fur. And something... (Single sharp drum crack) ...that refused to run. I could have counted every step to the door. Instead, I left it open. Only open. (Slight pause) Not wide. [Verse 1] [Female Vocal - Grete] [Style: Clipped Rhythmic Delivery, Low Muscular Contralto, Sharp Consonants] You stepped inside the heavy black, as though the dark were no excuse to turn back! I weighed the silence in the room: Was it brave? Or was it blind? The same damn riddle in the mind! I know the click when iron snaps, the crooked branch in hunter traps! The wrong kind of hush across the leaves, the hunger behind what the hand receives! You know it too — I saw it clear, the way you held your body here. Touching nothing. Leaving no trace. (Gasping breath) A foreign fox in a guarded place! [Pre-Chorus] [Drums build up tension. Fiddle plays a sharp, sawing motif. Bass pulses relentlessly] [Female Vocal - Grete with Rising Urgency] Beside you, something went to sleep that usually stays near the den to keep! (Sharp Fiddle Stab) Not whole! (Loud Bass Drop) JUST ENOUGH FOR THE NIGHT TO SWALLOW! [Chorus] [Full Art-Rock Explosion: Booming Drums, Grinding Hurdy-Gurdy, Screaming Raw Medieval Fiddle] [Female Vocal - Grete] [Style: Powerful Operatic Belt, Sustained Long Notes, Huge Dynamic Leap] VELOX CAME TO FAÚHŌ! UNDER ROOTS, BENEATH THE NIGHT! One stepped across the doorway, one kept the threshold wide! Outside, the timber smelled of flight! (Abrupt cut to complete silence — all instruments stop dead on beat 2) (Spoken Staccato Whisper) ...inside, no one ran. (Massive rhythmic slam back in on beat 4) VELOX CAME TO FAÚHŌ! AND THE CHILL HELD STILL! [Verse 2] [Instrumentation strips back to muscular bass, dry frame drum, and muted dulcimer strikes] [Female Vocal - Grete] [Style: Confident Strut, Controlled Low Tone, Piercing Enunciation] I do not fear your teeth or bite. That would be simple. That would be slight. I fear the fault line where I see how easily you could be broken by me! And how you show the bruised skin bare, without a word, without a stare. I saw the patch where fur grows thin — (Screeching fiddle scrape) ...I never let the teeth sink in! You saw how close I sleep to the seam, where cold air cuts across the dream. You did not bolt. You did not leave. We learn each other by the knives we keep: (Sudden vocal drop) Not by the wound — BUT THE STROKE WE DID NOT TAKE! [Bridge] [Tense Empty Space: Only Low Drone, Sparse Dulcimer Taps, and Heavy Heartbeat Frame Drum] [Female Vocal - Grete] [Style: Intimate Raspy Resonance, Barely Sung, Intense Gravity] Velox came to faúhō. The forest held its breath. No hunter. No prey. Only two shadows taking scent... and refusing to fade away. Later, your silence lay beside mine. Not heavy. Not strange. (Two seconds of dead silence — utter void) (Screaming Raw Contralto Belt) AND I FORGOT TO LISTEN! [Final Chorus] [Maximum Dynamic Overdrive: Relentless Strut, Crushing Bass, Soaring Piercing Fiddle Wall] [Female Vocal - Grete] [Style: Full Chest Belt, Commanding Theatrical Power, Extended High Notes] VULPES VELOX! FAÚHŌ VIGILANS! The swift one inside the den! The watchful one with his eyes shut tight — breathing in the dark again! Only briefly! ONLY LONG ENOUGH! No promises made for the coming red! No debt demanded! No words were said! The forest knew nothing! The earth kept gray! (Soaring Climactic Note) TWO SHADOWS LOCKED UNDERNEATH THE CLAY! [Outro] [The confident 4/4 strut drives forward with relentless momentum. The medieval fiddle howls like a cold wind over the droning hurdy-gurdy before snapping shut] [Spoken Outro] [Female Vocal - Grete] [Style: Cold Measured Whisper into Close-Mic, Absolute Calm] Velox came to faúhō. (A single, resonant strike on the frame drum) And faúhō... let him stay. (Hard, dry cut on the downbeat — instant silence) [End]