HEAR THIS: David Shane Smith
Given the prolific amount of singular beauty David Shane Smith seems to be churning out almost every day—just take a look at his Soundcloud profile—you’d think the Brooklyn via LA songwriter would’ve gotten more recognition by now. Self-released in June 2012, his EP Snake V Owl is a great introduction to Smith’s microcosm, levitating somewhere above the worlds of fully fledged avant-garde and oddball pop tunes. Smith’s music can sound like jazzed-up Arto Lindsay compositions bathed in industrial electronica (like the opening track, “Nevada to Waziristan”), or delicate acoustic chamber-folk specked with Dirty Projectors-like penchant for chordal experimentation. In all cases, it is charmingly fractured, emotionally precarious, and downright fascinating.