The new single from The Bones of J.R. Jones, also known as Jonathon Linaberry, is a brilliantly atmospheric song, a compelling, sonic journey through memory and regret; it could easily be the soundtrack to a dark and brooding movie. Based on propulsive rhythms and percussion, the song flows on melodic and lyrical currents, drawing you into the narrative and mood.
Linaberry says of the song: “‘Shameless’ is taking the long way home to retread your past. The inevitable inner conflict and perhaps guilt that rise up from past decisions, that were maybe made in haste and in passion. I think we all struggle with the ‘what could have been’ question. What arrogant fool can’t look back and wonder? I am just trying to recognise that in this song.”
The video for “Shameless”, featuring Anora cinematographer Drew Daniels as Director of Photography, is the perfect accompaniment to the song. It’s a cinematic piece that follows the narrative of a betrayed lover in a moody, unsettling tale. Linaberry says of the video: “I have always been drawn to an unsatisfying ambiguous ending. Endings that are never explained, nor make sense in the straight line of a narrative. I think because much of life feels this way. We never get to make sense of so many things. Human nature isn’t logical … it just doesn’t work that way. It’s chaos and we do our best to control it. Sometimes we succeed, sometimes we fail. It’s this recognition that makes the noir genre so appealing and that’s what we tried to create here in three short minutes.”
The single is taken from the forthcoming album “Radio Waves”, produced by GRAMMY-nominated Robbie Lackritz (Feist, Bahamas), which is due for release on 20th June 2025. The New York-based artist’s sixth studio album collects coming-of-age stories told with finger-picked guitar and lo-fi, old school electronics. Linaberry says: “These songs live in the night. It’s the sound of a kitchen heavy with the leftover heat of an August day and a table crowded with drinks, of arguments and first loves and first heartbreaks, of not living up to your potential, of breaking promises, of being human.” Absorbing stuff.
