Ruston Kelly - Shape & Destroy (August 28, 2020) Album • Page 15

just diving into Nation of Language today.

this is my favorite SJ record. I’ll stop detailing the thread now.

 

Well you got three of my top 5 right there I think

 

Listened to this today for the first time, so good!

 

Based on your list I am surprised to not see Donovan Woods or Brian Fallon on there.

 

I did not love the Donovan Woods album as a whole and currently have Brian Fallon at #27 on my list.

 

Kind of surprised by this. What didn't you like about it?

 

To each there own. But, Ruston feels like he’s channeling Donovan with his whisperer deliveries on a few songs. Plus Donovan’s duet with Katie Pruitt is so genuine.

 

The KP duet was definitely my favorite. Maybe I just wasn't in the right headspace, but the album felt overwrought and underwritten with a lean into pop production that didn't really pay off for me. It reminded me of someone like a Mat Kearney, who has never been to my taste either. But I'm glad others like it... I like to like things!

To go further with my criticism: I'm not hugely invested in Donovan Woods as a songwriter, but when I compare his compositions on Without People to those on an album like Kathleen Edwards' Total Freedom and there's a palpably huge gap in lyrical imagery and energy. Or even compare it to Ken Yates' Quiet Talkers, which has the same sense as Woods of not stretching himself too much lyrically but to me is THE great unheralded singer-songwriter album of the year due to the plainspoken atmosphere it's able to conjure.

 

You’re a real one, my friend. A totally fair criticism without being unfair or anything. This coming from someone that would pick Donovan over Ruston 9/10 times

 

Also Kathleen has always been great and her newest record isn’t getting nearly enough buzz.

Edit: (Sarah Siskind’s newest too!)

 

haha Isbell and Bruce, I think. I see Isbell just a touch down your list tho so we good

 

I haven't figured out where Bruce is yet, but I don't see him cracking my top 10. At its best, the album roars and feels ALIVE in such a surprising way -- especially those rerecorded older songs, holy god I can't say enough nice things about "If I Was A Priest" -- but only a few of the songs truly move me, even the sad ones about his dead friends. Western Stars was #2 for me last year though.

 

I don't know this person, but I see Justin Vernon on the tracklist!

 

I think Donovan has really internalized a lot of the craft of Nashville songwriting, which I think is more to my taste than to yours. But I disagree with your suggestion that it's "underwritten." I think his great skill as a songwriter (and the great skill of a lot of the best songwriters in Nashville) is his ability to zero in on an idea and make it feel effortless when it's really not. I think of something like "Clean Slate," which isn't flashy, but which is also just a song where every word or line is in the right place to serve the central conceit of the songwriting. And I think even his less "obvious" ideas (the way he writes about father-son relationships in "Man Made Lake," or the way "Last Time I Saw You" ends up being something different than you think it's going to be) are really effective. The way Woods zeroes in on that central "aboutness" of a song is something that really clicks with me.

 

I became of a fan of hers because Bon Iver used to cover her song "Lovin's for Fools" during their first tour. Same thing with Kathleen and "Mercury".

Think you'd really like her stuff if you're into Kathleen.

 

king

 

Yeah this is Very Good album.

 

hell yeah

 

things you love to see: it

honestly think 90% of the ppl that post on this site would enjoy this record

 

I listened to Ken Yates for the first time based on this recommendation and am REALLY liking his album

 

Glad to hear you like it! I think side B of that album is my single most-played vinyl record at night in 2020. Every song has hit me at different times, but “Dissolution Day” is >>>>

 

I just did the same. His voice makes me think I’m listening to some chill Fountains of Wayne. I dig it.

 

Four of my top five most listened to songs on Spotify this year were from this album. So, I guess I like it.

 

Brave was my #3!