By HARRIET KAPLAN
RF Shannon, an Austin-based band via L.A., fronted by singer-songwriter Shane Renfro, played a moody, atmospheric set of blues-soaked psychedelic desert rock at The Resident DTLA.
The songs are both cinematic and intimately hypnotic with consistently strong delivery.
One feels a sense of mystery as the group transports the listener into another realm. The other-worldly material brimmed with a quiet intensity and seductive power that moved the audience emotionally. Onlookers watched the band with their full attention as RF Shannon were all but enveloped by the music and lost in themselves thoroughly as the show progressed.
Celebrating the recent release of their second album, Trickster Blues, RF Shannon played several cuts which ruminated on fate, love and complexity of life including “Cold Spell,” “Gates Of Paradise,” “I’m Only Dying,” and “Tooth Ache.” Shane Renfro wrapped his velvety vocals around the moving songs that also recall the somber timber of Bob Dylan, Nick Drake and Leonard Cohen.
RF Shannon is a talented band whose songs really grow on you after repeated listenings. There is more focus on the craft, arrangements and the approach to setting specific moods than writing easy hit songs. Trickster Blues, though, was an attempt by the band to shift from the long form structure of their last effort, Jaguar Palace, to writing shorter, more concise songs.
The new material doesn’t suffer as a result, or is any less interesting or compelling. The new LP takes its audience on another journey, and based on this show at The Resident DTLA, their fans were willing to join them on this uncharted road.