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Feb 20, 2024 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Gabrielle Greenberg

Next month, Vermont-based singer/songwriter Hannah Frances is set to share her third full-length album, Keeper of the Shepherd. She debuted in 2018 with her album, White Buffalo, followed by her 2021 effort, Bedrock. Her latest record finds her once again evoking the progressive and avant-garde strains of folk, crafting tracks that churn with hypnotic acoustics, densely layered arrangements, and a wondrous lyrical voice. She has already shared a series of new singles from the album this year, and today she’s back with the title track, premiering with Under the Radar.

“Keeper of the Shepherd” gallops forward atop of driving drums, off-kilter guitar work, and loping basslines, taking on both propulsive country rhythms and a mystic folk sheen. Frances’ vocals are the warm and reedy centerpoint, standing stately above the instrumentation. As the song winds onward, spectral pedal steel shimmers through the mix, with the track falling into a shambolic jazz-tinged finale in its final moments. Meanwhile, Frances lyrics unpack themes of loss, faith, and self-discovery, meditating on the self above all else: “I cannot live without me / I cannot be kept without me / I cannot love you without me / I cannot be without me.”

The press release says of the track, “Keeper of the Shepherd, the titular and strident new single from Hannah Frances, poses a repetition of revelations about sovereignty. Frances melds lyrical archetype with her idiosyncratic and percussive guitar work to name the difficult truths of her life. An impressive, captivating journey, Frances finds her way to liberation in the end.”

Check out the song and video below. Keeper of the Shepherd is out March 1st via Ruination Record Co.