The Pastoral and Luminious “Cracked Porcelain” is but One Chapter of Kris Kelly’s Bohemian Coming of Age Album Runaways

KrisKelly6_sm — Kris Kelly, photo courtesy the artist

Kris Kelly’s vocals on “Cracked Porcelain” have a graceful, fragile quality matched by the delicate guitar work and luminous orchestral melody. It suggests a grand arc of a story and reflecting on the events that have transpired. Like an extended prologue before the main story takes place, introducing themes that recur throughout the narrative. The music video is like something out of 1970s manga depicting two figures making their way through a desert and reaching an oasis together where they indulge delights of the senses represented by endless food and drink and other hedonistic pursuits. One of the figures makes a break from this trap of endless indulgence and while the song comes to an end we are left wanting more of the story. The lyric, “We couldn’t see what we sacrificed for our gala” sums up the story so far well and the perils of a life out of balance and also suggests more to come. Turns out “Cracked Porcelain” is at the halfway mark of Kelly’s 2019 album Runaways and thus the turning point of a story of a young person’s journey from youthful wanderlust and excess to a place of love and belonging after making mistakes along the way, in form and structure the equivalent of a Bildungsroman. Watch the video on YouTube, visit Kelly’s website (linked below) to further explore the new album and follow the artist at the links provided.