RF Shannon

Texan songwriter RF Shannon, born Shane Renfro, wrote an introduction to his last album, Hunting Songs, released back in 2014. "WE, THE OVERSTIMULATED CHILDREN OF THE NIGHTLIFE, ARE BEGINNING TO FEEL THE WAVE DISTORTIONS FROM GENERATIONS OF SUBTLE STRUCTURAL MANIPULATIONS," he wrote. "WE CRY OUT TO ANCESTORS WHO NEVER KNEW US AND PARADE LIFEWAYS UNLIVED[…] SO I SING AS A BOOTLEGGER AND ROUGHNECK WHO CHEWED TOBACCO AND PULLED PENNIES FROM MY EARS. THAT'S ALL I KNOW OF GRANDFATHER RF SHANNON, SO IM PIECING TOGETHER A LINEAGE FROM THIS."

All this, the capital letters, seemed at first to be at odds with RF Shannon's delicate voice, the gentle country slides of his guitar, and the occasional sweetness that bled from his chord progressions. But the noise of those capital letters and his loud identification as "A BOOTLEGGER AND ROUGHNECK" could be found in the bold snare cracks and reverb swishes of the record, swirling around his lonesome steadiness.
It's clear, too, on "Had a Revelation," premiering on Noisey today. It's the latest track from his new EP, Other Trails, out October 21 on Keeled Scales. Again, Shannon's voice is half-drowned in the mix, swamped by an echo; the gathered guitars—some delayed, some so distorted as to sound sinister—remain the capital letters of the track. But get up close to the speakers and you'll hear that concern for tangled histories: "Do you change with the seasons? / Do you cling to the past?"

The video for the track, shot and directed by Daniel Hill, captures the grandeur of the country vision, from the blinking lights of the bars and fairgrounds to the solitary open expanses. Renfro is away from his computer this weekend—something that shouldn't seem odd or exceptional, but does—but he wrote us a note last night about the making of the video.

"The video was shot after I had just relocated from Austin to Lockhart. I've been cultivating a piece of land out there for the last few years and decided to make the jump to a slower-paced life. Lyrically and visually, the video is about adjusting to a different way of being. It has sort of an understated humor and desperation that's a fairly true reflection of trying to embrace solitude after leaving the city. My good friend Daniel Hill made the video. We shot it out in Lockhart around Cinco de Mayo, there was a festival on the square and all this Tejano and Cumbia music blasting in the bars, so we just tried to keep up."

Watch the video below and keep an eye out for Other Trails. - Noisey

Of the nearly 3,000 new songs, that we posted in 2015, you can bet your ass that there were some choice cuts in the bunch. While they are all our little darlings, we did the hard work for you again this month and boiled the big bunch down to the top 300 songs from just under 300 artists into a handy dandy crib sheet that we think you will like. Also, take some time to go back through our best of lists from years past and see if they still hold up. (Spoiler alert: THEY DO. THEY FUCKING RIP!). Happy holidays from all of us over here in Daytrotter City! -- Mr. Daytrotter - Daytrotter

There are a few moments in the new film Hell or High Water where the music is positively perfect, where the pitch fits the tone of the story. It's dark, moody, beautiful and cerebral. Set in small Texas towns, the brooding film is about a pair of brothers who rob banks to help pay for their mortgaged family home. Seems like the ideal job for Nick Cave and Warren Ellis.

But RF Shannon might have done a great job on his own. His new EP, Other Trails, has the same feel as the Hell or High Water soundtrack, and is even inspired by some of the same desolate areas in West Texas. Shane Renfro — also the guitarist in Jess Williamson's band — has created a shimmering, reverb-heavy record that sounds like the soundtrack to miles and miles of open road, dust blowing in the wind and nothing around except for your dark thoughts. "I've been obsessed with the phrase 'Other Trails' for a while," Renfro says. "It has this kind of eerie quality that's super grounded and overlooked, yet odd and mysterious at the same time. I thought it was a fitting title for this brief glimpse of a soundscape that will emerge with our LP this coming spring."

With elements of Americana, shoegaze, ambient and 100 other genres, this is some darkly gorgeous stuff. Stream it in full below and order yours. - CLRVYNT