Ruston Kelly - Dying Star (September 7, 2018) Album • Page 6

This album is 9 kinds of fucking good. He maybe leans a little hard on drugs for his subject matter (it gets a tad repetitive after awhile) but it's a pretty minor knock. Writing this good with production and arrangements this bright seem rarer and rarer lately, so I'm very excited about this album.

 

He honestly leans too hard on it at times. It takes me out of the album unfortunately. I haven't given it enough spins though.

 

Its funny how he noted Dashboard Confessional as an influence because thats the vibe I get when listening to this album.

 

Whats everybody's favorite song?

 

That is so tough. Literally like half the album.

 

The stretch from "Son Of A Highway Daughter" through "Blackout" is probably my favorite on the album.

 

Right now it's Paratrooper's Battlecry. The chorus continues to give me chills and it's been stuck in my head since last Friday. Son of a Highway Daughter is a close second.

 

That's how I felt at first too, but it's bothered me less as I've spent more time with the album.

"Anchors," with honorable mentions for the title track and "Just for the Record."

 

Yeah favorite song is super tough. Son of a Highway Daughter, Just for the Record, Big Brown Bus, Dying Star into the closer... it's all good stuff.

 

It's hard to pick. I think the best overall song on the record is "Mercury" but I also love everything about the closer. Then there's bits & pieces all over that just get me like the first part of the 2nd verse in "Big Brown Bus." the lyrics & the vocal melody is SO good there.

 

Fortunately this is starting to happen with me as well. I'm beginning to love this more and more with each listen.

 

I love the playlist Spotify generates for me after this album ends.

Kacey
Tyler Childers
Jason Isbell
Lori McKenna
Colter Wall
etc

 

This is what Spotify would generate for everyone if I could hack Spotify.

 

I was gonna say.. that's the Craig special

Jillian Jacqueline just popped up. Never heard of her but I really like this song "Sad Girls"

 

I've been all about that song this week. I really like her stuff. She may or may not be too "pop" for you, but she's got a really great voice. I think she has three EPs out at this point and they're all pretty great.

 

Favorite song on this album is a tough one. I definitely don't have one stand out that's better than all the rest for me, but I guess I'd have to put “Paratrooper’s Battlecry”, “Mercury”, or “Faceplant” out there if I had to try. Really though, the whole thing is remarkably good. “Son of a Highway Daughter” is waaay up there too, and I usually DESPISE the kind of effect that's on his vocals in that song, but here it works 100% for me. “Blackout” and “Mockingbird” too. This really is a futile exercise for me, because I feel like I need to mention the opener and the title track-into-closer combo too.

Honestly the one track that dips a tiny bit in quality for me is “Big Brown Bus” but even that is a good song, it's just not as strong as the other 13 tracks to me. I've seen quite a few people mention that one as a stand-out or favorite for them so go figure.

For me, he doesn't lean *too hard* on the drug theme here, although there is a hell of a lot of that here lyrically and thematically. That's what this album is about. I love that it's about something and he doesn't pull any punches with it either. From what I've read it almost killed him a couple years ago and he's lucky to be alive. I love what he said about his father playing on this album and how he went through all the hard times with him a little while ago.

 

My girlfriend texted me the perfect encapsulation after her first listen: "Man, this guy really likes drugs and Jason Isbell."

 

“Mockingbird” has a lotttt of melodic echoes of King Charles’ “Bright Thing”.

 

Someone on Twitter told me he was ripping off Ryan Adams to the point where Ryan Adams should sue him. I found that funny considering how frequently Adams borrows liberally from other artists.

 

Might be a hot take but this one album is definitely better than like 90% of Ryan Adams' output.

 

And I'm a Ryan Adams fan.

 

I like this better than Heartbreaker, which is the album it's been most frequently compared to!

(And Heartbreaker is great, of course.)

 

Son of a Highway Daughter is really that shit though. Song is incredible

 

The comparisons make a whole lot of sense. I’ve tried to get into Ryan Adams endlessly and this album is already better than any full record I’ve heard from him tbh

 

Yeah Adams would be the first to tell you all his influences. So white knighting against someone for being influenced by him is pretty funny.