by Shea Roney (@uglyhug_records)
After the release of I Keep My Feet on the Fragile Plane, New York based singer-songwriter Allegra Krieger returns with Fragile Plane: B-Sides, the extension to an album that was fortified in personal silence and atypical orchestration. Engineered by Jeremy Harris (Hand Habits, Devandra Banheart) and co-produced by Luke Temple, Krieger expands on her poetic observations of humanity's shortcomings, told through her formidable presence in a passing world.
Beginning with the subtle and fragile narrative of “Chemical Flower,” Krieger’s light guitar work and forlorn voice move under a monotonous atmosphere to tell a deliberative story of loneliness. With the imagery of cleaning a stranger’s apartment, in the midst of mindless busywork, Krieger’s thoughts turn towards a notable relationship in her life. As the subtle synths begin to take melodic shape, the heart of the issue becomes clear; a directionless, and at times uncomfortable effort. “Living In The City is So Beautiful,” the bookend of the album, carries on this vivid loneliness into a bluesy meander around a busy cityscape. “Living in the city is so beautiful / When you have a partner and a room” Krieger sings with a slanted awareness, like finding a pot of gold where it is almost impossible to be so lucky.
The climate crisis and other exigent societal blemishes find themselves as a continuous theme in many of Krieger’s songs. On “Joke/Dream,” with its dry electric guitar and hidden blues riffs, Krieger comments on the shamelessness of humanity. “Feels like a kind of joke / trying to find shade under a cloud of smoke,” she sings in a sinuous melody. “Smoke Dome” begins with gentle instrumentation while Krieger’s vocal range scales up to beautiful phrase endings. That is until the low and dissident guitar notes turn into a bloom of noise, covering the track with its distorted foulness. “Impasse,” the first teaser released from this collection, is a modern tale of hubris as those with power and wealth will find their fall soon. With roaming guitar tracks that follow Krieger’s melody, “Impasse” burrows into the civic roots of folk music.
Fragile Plane: B-Sides only contains one demo that was taken from the original I Keep My Feet on the Fragile Plane tracklist. “Lingering (Demo)”, still holding true to the finished version, is a cyclical song of being stuck in life’s motions while Krieger waltzes through her day. The inclusion of the stripped down demo only holds more notion towards a story of emphasis on both beginnings and endings.
The pinnacle moment on the album,“Here,” is one of the shortest, yet most alluring tracks. With a traditional folk style guitar and a brushing of light atmospheric tranquility, Krieger emphasizes finding contrast in life when it all blends together. “Glitches in your bandwidth / Peel an orange, eat the pith,” she sings in a gorgeous moment of numbed meditation. Utilizing such a simple instrumental track, Krieger puts significance on remaining present when time feels so fleeting.
Krieger’s contemplative style is unwavering in the music that she continues to release over her fast growing catalog. With a concise collection of songs on Fragile Plane: B-Sides, she waltzes about in this doomed world, but with the realization that passive existence isn’t an option anymore. The rejuvenation is pulled back in slightly darker tones than on I Keep My Feet on the Fragile Plane, but in no way is the sincerity removed.