Brooklyn, New York art-folk singer / songwriter KRIS KELLY (originally from Austin, TX ) studied classical vocal performance & music composition. For years he made original compositions for guitar, voice, flute, violin, bass and percussion and took his songs on tours of the Americas with guitar and suitcase.
Kris has a album out now, “Runaways” recorded with an all-star team of musicians that include: string/wind/horn arrangements by John Philip Shenale (Tori Amos), bass by Todd Sickafoose (Ani DiFranco), drums by Brian Griffin (Lana Del Rey, The Lone Bellow, Brandi Carlile), guitars by Dave Levita (Alanis Morrisette) & Benji Lysaght (Father John Misty), and keys by Dave Palmer (Fiona Apple, Lana Del Rey).
The album was produced by Kris (acoustic guitar & vocals) and mixed by Noah Georgeson (Joanna Newsom, Devendra Banhart, Andy Shauf).
The album begins with the creative weft of “Birthplace” and brings bright guitars and vocals that offer charm without deception. The melody is seductive and the voice is supernal.
“Apocalyptic” has the dark British folk flavor of something that might have been taken from Liege & Lief [Fairport Convention, 1969]. So imagine murder, discontent, indomitable demons and crazy men that lurk in the gutter shadows of the song. It is portentous, mystical and gloomy. . .
You have the feeling that if there is a cure for all the madness our selfishness brings to the world, the cure will involve bleeding, astral influences, and the abolition of fateful sin.
“In This Valley” is a progressive folk rock number and paces like a slow saraband. Here, the haunting voice is frangipane and cardamom. The number expands into the space given it with magnificent boldness.
“More” with a new Kris Moyes directed video (shared below) seems more dramatic than some of the other pieces on the album, and is about uncontrollable addiction, It’s filled with spectres of tragedy and populated by wraiths that seem to have risen, unwelcome, from a netherworld; Tones transform into dark cellos and even darker orchestrations. The voice extends luminous fingertips into a vast space… as desire, hunger, and appetite grow with unbridled and unquenchable force .
This is extraordinary music, extraordinary talent, and an extraordinary voice.
File alongside: Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver
Words: @neilmach 2020 ©
Runaways by Kris Kelly is OUT NOW
Link: https://www.facebook.com/KrisKellyMusic/
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