[Low ambient synth hum, distant horn call, deep hand drum heartbeat] Verse 1 Smoke climbs slow through the fir trees Night pressed tight against my skin Bare feet find the trembling earth Feel the ceremony begin Hands strike hide, the circle tightens Wooden floorboards start to shake Old world rhythm in my marrow Every scar begins to wake [Layered djembé groove enters, offbeat claps, bowed strings drone] Pre-Chorus I was small beneath the mountain Carrying silence like a chain Now the drum inside my ribs Is louder than my pain Chorus Lift me higher From the valley to the flame Let the thunder speak my name I am rising Through the smoke and through the sound Feel the forest turn around I am fire I am river I am crown [High sustained note, epic female belt, choir enters in open fifth harmonies] [Instrumental break: Alpine fiddle riff over polyrhythmic drums, synth shimmer undercurrent] Verse 2 Braided hair and beating hearts Boot heels striking ancient ground Spirits moving through the timber Every step a sacred sound Copper bells and low brass calling Voices woven thick and strong Shadows breaking at our shoulders We have waited far too long [Complex rhythm shift, syncopated hand percussion, rhythmic violin stabs] Pre-Chorus I was bending like a branch in winter Frozen under borrowed sky Now the heat beneath my tongue Is teaching me to cry Chorus Lift me higher From the valley to the flame Let the thunder speak my name I am rising Through the smoke and through the sound Feel the forest turn around I am fire I am river I am crown [High note climbs higher than before, choir expands into full orchestral swell] Bridge [Drums drop to body percussion and stomp rhythm] Skin to skin and bone to drum We are older than the fear Mountain blood inside our lungs Calling every exile near No more kneeling No more small Hear the timbered spirits call [Full percussion explosion, layered vocals, driving orchestral strings] Final Chorus Lift us higher From the valley to the flame Let the thunder speak our name We are rising Through the dark and through the deep What we sow is what we keep We are fire We are river We are free [Massive high note, epic choir, tribal drums pounding] [Outro: Drums continue alone, fading into a single heartbeat and distant horn]
