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Oct 05, 2020 Web Exclusive By Caleb Campbell

Ruston Kelly’s stirring 2018 debut Dying Star earned him fans of his meditative and confessional alt-country, an effective combination he has termed “dirt emo.” But it was even more important to Kelly personally as a picture of recovery. Kelly’s debut album was written in the wake of an overdose and chronicled his attempts to get clean. It was a deeply personal and intimate work, drawing listeners past pretenses of Nashville stardom to bring them into Kelly’s journey into sobriety. If his debut was Kelly’s rock bottom, his sophomore record, Shape and Destroy, follows Ruston Kelly into the aftermath as he navigates recovery, newfound purpose, and ever present temptation.

The focus on this record is Kelly’s journey and he continues to be an unflinchingly honest narrator. As anyone who has struggled with addiction will tell you, recovery is not a straight line but one filled with setbacks, frustrations, and even backsliding. “Mid-Morning Lament” describes those temptations as Kelly sings, “I wanna spike my coffee, but I know where that leads” amid a meditative piano track and plaintive guitar. The strength of the album is how it brings the listener into Kelly’s journey and his ongoing struggles. He remains achingly direct and yearning on this record. As much as the music is rooted in country and Americana territory, Kelly’s raw lyrics indicate his affection for emo stalwarts such as Dashboard Confessional hasn’t dwindled.

While Kelly’s addiction is an ever present narrative on the record, the core of Shape and Destroy lies in his newfound hope. The focus of much of the album is celebrating those he loves as he does on “Brave” with his mother or “Alive” with his, now ex-wife Kacey Musgraves. Kelly also brings his family into the recording process as Musgraves and Kelly’s sister provide backing vocals on several tracks here and his father adds pedal steel into the mix. The shadow of Musgraves and Kelly’s recent divorce does cast a cloud over some of the sentiment here, but doesn’t soften the primary message of perseverance through pain. Or as Kelly puts it on “Under the Sun,” “It’s almost over/Brighter days still to come.”

Although not overly lengthy, the album does lull, especially in its midsection. While heartfelt, most songs also are downtempo and hushed affairs. The pace does lift somewhat on the jangling “Radio Cloud” or the soft spoken country pop of “Clean,” but the general tenor is a subdued and thoughtful approach that makes Shape and Destroy more of a mood album than a casual listen. Kelly’s debut also held more touches of sonic diversity with moments that nodded to contemporary country pop and even a vocoder-soaked ballad. On the other hand, Shape and Destroy stays firmly circumscribed in the realm of alt-country. The only exception is the closer, “Hallelujah Anyway” with its gorgeous hymnlike harmonies. The record is, in some respects, a more serious album with less wit or adventurousness than its predecessor, but with more heart and lyrical gut punches.

Shape and Destroy may best be understood as an album of rebirth. For the first record Kelly recorded completely sober, he surrounded himself with trusted collaborators and loved ones to chronicle his journey in rebuilding his life. While not every instrumental makes a lasting impression, the sentiment behind them drives the album forward and makes it easy to connect to Kelly as a songwriter. With Shape and Destroy, Ruston Kelly delivers an unvarnished and genuine look at a man in recovery and a loving tribute to those who made it possible. (www.rustonkelly.com)

Author rating: 6.5/10