Ruston Kelly - The Weakness (April 7, 2023) Album • Page 31

I kinda got the vibe that this wouldn’t be on the record, given the subject matter & inspiration for the song. It felt like maybe it was important enough to just be a stand alone release.

I could be totally wrong, but I thought it was interesting that it didn’t come with any albums news or single treatment.

 

The fact that there hasn't been any album info regarding this makes me prone to agree with you. Maybe this was done in the album sessions and he just wanted to get it out.

 

I didn't have any thoughts about whether it'd be standalone or part of an album, but it's extremely common for artists to put out 1-2 songs before actually announcing an album that contains those songs.

 

His email blast about the song says more news is coming. I assume that will be an album announcement.

 

He usually does a video so maybe a video with album announcement.

 

I've heard the tour/album aren't happening until the fall, which would be tooooooo long for my impatient ass to wait.

 

I've noticed several video post recently. Potential new album announcement or am I missing something?

 

I have to assume it’s coming

 

He finished LP4 a while ago, shot a video recently for it, & then these teases. I’d imagine a single & announcement is soon.

 

From some of the comments I've seen - it looks like he's gotten more into the church. I'm curious how much or little it will be part of the new record.

Growing up heavily intertwined in the church and having left it as I grew up, I'm sadly skeptical anytime I see stuff like that. I hate to come from a place like that so quickly, but sadly I do.

 

As a member of the LGBTQ+ Community, I also sadly get skeptical of this. I have a hard time explaining it. Maybe I'll try to expand a bit later. But... something I need to name, I guess.

 

I mean yeah if the new album is like quasi CCM then I’m out. Don’t need to hear the bad songs on Weakness but with praise lyrics instead lol, some of the production on there is already very CCM adjacent

He’s playing around with some religious imagery for sure but he always has—had religious statues on stage in 2021 that looked like they were from MCR album art or something. I saw he posted what looked like a bible verse on Instagram but it’s not actually one at least from googling. Idk. Who knows.

 

I struggle with this one a bit too. I'm very anti-religious at this point, but can understand that religion/god seems to be the only thing that helped pull him out of addiction. It's odd, I remember resonating more with early MO/BN a lot when they wrote about the struggle of faith. I went through that, and came out the other side toward unbelief. So when an artist writes about that opposite finish line, it's harder for me to connect with the music.

 

He’s been talking about religion forever. Shape & Destroy literally ends with “Hallelujah Anyway.” Like others said, I highly doubt he’s going into CCM territory lyrically even if the general topic is more prevalent on this one, he’s too good of a writer for that. As someone who grew up in the church and then became much more agnostic, I kinda like the religious allusions as long as they’re done with some artistry.

 

Random side thought - being raised a very strict mormon, the mormon church uses the phrase "the Church" very often as their literal church/organization. Because they believe they are the only true church on the planet. So when I hear catholicism or random protestant religions refer to themselves as 'being raised in the church' over 'being raised catholic/christian/etc. It throws my mind for a loop. It's been over a decade and I still can't shake it as the terminology was jammed into my brain hundreds of times a week for thirty years.

 

Hallelujah Anyway is one of my favorite songs of his. I agree that he's too good of a song writer to put out something that's very formulaic CCM type of music. I guess one of the things that caught my eye is with a few of the cryptic posts it seems that he's alluding to some quoted scripture with some potential book and verse call outs. That's the area that I feel like he hasn't necessarily gone and probably what caught my eye first.

As I mentioned before, it certainly has a lot more to do with my own feelings that I continue to work through with being raised so close to the church.

 

LP4 tracklist + single + tour dates on Friday

 

hell yeah

bring it on

 

Ruston is off with my pay schedule. This is unfortunate.

 

Very excited for new Ruston

 

Just got my copy of Dirt Emo Vol. 2 in the mail, so it's perfect timing for LP4

 

Via VPN, the album is called Pale, Through The Window with 13 tracks:

1. Pale, Through the Window
2. Give Up the Ghost
3. Wayside
4. Half Past Three
5. Me and You
6. Twisted Root
7. Still
8. Waiting To Love You
9. I See You
10. Pickleball
11. House In The Country
12. Great Wide Open
13. All In

 

Since making his debut with 2018’s Dying Star, Ruston Kelly has built a catalog of songs that search for transcendence in the most devastating and demanding of experiences: addiction, the strenuous work of self-evolution, the fallout of broken relationships. But in the writing of his latest album, the South Carolina-born artist found himself in unfamiliar emotional territory—a state of sustained joy and inner peace, brought on by a spiritual breakthrough and the dawning of a new love. Brimming with the grit and depth that’s always defined his output, Pale, Through the Window ultimately affirms Kelly as one of modern music’s most astute observers of the human heart and spirit.

“For most of my life, I’ve felt comfortable writing about darker subject matter with a slight silver lining of hope, asking questions like ‘Why do people suffer, and how can we find communion and joy in the middle of the suffering?’” says Kelly. “Before this album I didn’t quite have the songwriting muscle required to write about joy more directly, which meant that I had to develop some new muscles and find my voice in a whole different way.”

The follow-up to The Weakness—a 2023 release that earned major acclaim from the likes of Rolling Stone, The New York Times, NPR and led to his appearance on “Late Night with Seth Meyers”—Pale, Through the Window finds Kelly reuniting with his longtime collaborator Jarrad K, who also helmed production on Dying Star and 2020’s Shape & Destroy. The first body of work he’s recorded with his longtime touring band, the album centers on a singular sonic palette that often merges synth with pedal-steel guitar while fully embracing Kelly’s ardent love of classic pop-punk and emo, ultimately bringing a raw and potent energy to his soul-searching songwriting.

Over the course of Pale, Through the Window’s 13 songs, Kelly offers up everything from the somber rumination of the LP’s title track and the rueful longing of “Twisted Root” (an intimate look at his history with addiction) to the radiant open-heartedness of love songs like “Waiting to Love You” and “Wayside” (a euphoric but unvarnished portrait of love against the backdrop of a world in lames). And in sharing such an all-embracing account of his journey to acceptance and peace, he aspires to provide others with the courage to persevere through their own personal chaos. “If someone’s struggling with doubt or hopelessness because of the state of the world or their relationship with God or with themselves, I hope this record leaves them with the sense that it can be okay and that love truly is the most powerful force we have available to us,” says Kelly. “I also hope they feel at least a sliver of the freedom and joy I felt in writing these songs—even if they’re just having a good time bobbing their head to ‘Waiting to Love You,’ I want everyone to be reminded that the world can be a joyful place.”

 

Twisted Root is so good.

 

Is there a release date?