Hanging Out and Relaxing

A reflective, intimate track that captures the pursuit of something undefined — a feeling, a possibility, a spark. Not lonely but quietly curious, it balances stillness with yearning for the abstract.

Chasing the Idea

Silence

I Want More / Break My Baby

I Want More

Tourism EP available now on Color Study: ffm.to/tourism



I was trying to find someone to love me
and then I did and she was dancing
across the room with the lights on her half-closed eyes

So then I took another drink and stumbled
across to her and said something ridiculous
like a man who’d refuse to shine

See I was looking for a still life
now it is stillborn
in the endless glow, on a river of road
I drove out of the eye of the storm

I was trying to write a song so articulate
it could right my wrongs but I wrote it wrong
this is not it, it’s just a field day for a therapist
“and what did you dream?”
that I wrote a song
“and what did it mean?”
that I got it wrong, I don’t know
I don’t know

See I was looking for a still life
now it is stillborn
in the endless glow, on a river of road
I drove out of the eye of the storm

Did I know it then? Did I cry out then?
by the blooming tree in Switzerland?
No I never really know
No I never really know
what I can do about it
If I lie down on the dirty ground
would the angels sing?

still life
now it is stillborn
in the endless glow, on a river of road
I drove out of the eye of the storm

Still Life (feat. Joseph)

Amazing

Always on My Mind

Always on My Mind (The Quarantine Sessions)

Strangers

Radio Cloud

Hold You Tapes

Hold You

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 flames). 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.

Radio Cloud

Ruston Kelly

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