NYC-based singer-songwriter Allegra Krieger‘s anticipated new album I Keep My Feet On The Fragile Plane is out now — it’s her fourth full-length, and first for Double Double Whammy. Read our review in Notable Releases. To celebration its release, we asked Allegra about the influences behind it, and she made us a list that includes Judee Sill, the service industry, a novel/poem by Ann Carson, and more. Read it, along with her commentary, and stream I Keep My Feet On The Fragile Plane below.
Influences behind Allegra Krieger’s I Keep My Feet On The Fragile Plane
Clarice Lispector
During the writing and recording of this album I was reading and re-reading a lot of Clarice Lispector. It was a mild obsession- I was just totally taken by her writing. It’s sharp and direct, but also freeing and unresolved. She seems to be very in touch with the intimacies of daily life, as well as cosmically attuned.
My apartment
These songs wouldn’t exist if I wasn’t living where I was living the last few years. The moldy ceilings, the five flights of stairs, the men who would weld on the sidewalk below, sparks flying, the little mouse that lived behind my fridge, the orange glowing apartment across the street, the fish curing on the roof next to drying laundry, the mourning dove on the AC unit, the walk to work, under the bridge, the pink light bouncing off the brick wall across the alley, the thin hallway where shoes go, the plant that never dies.
Judee Sill
There is something so hopeful and spiritual about Judee’s music, I find it to be life-affirming. The lyric “However we are is OK” from the song “Lopin Along Thru the Cosmos”… I could go on and on about that song, it’s a huge inspiration for me as a writer and a person.
New York City
I love New York, the creative spirit, the resilience of life in a place where it’s not always so easy. People are real here, they recognize hurt, they celebrate beauty and try to make it work as best they can.
Service Industry
There is something i really love about service industry workers, not to romanticize it, cause ultimately it’s just a job, and it has a lot of toxic traits, but I just appreciate the strange dreamy indulgent nature of many folks who end up in that line of work. Also, a lot of my coworkers are artists and inspiring in a creative sense too. Plus they make me laugh. And on the other hand, it’s a reminder of how demanding and careless our consumption can be, as human beings. And YET, sometimes it just feels good to serve someone; to have some simple task, and complete it, which feels sort of thematically aligned with the album. Anyways, I’ve spent most of my adult life working in bars and restaurants, so those influences are bound to seep in.
Glass Irony and God
A novel/poem by Anne Carson. Just beautiful. I kept a copy by my bed, and would flip through frequently.
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Allegra has some shows coming up, including a hometown NYC date with canteenkilla and Kalia Vandever on August 5 at Union Pool and a couple of shows opening for Angel Olsen. See all dates below.
Allegra Krieger — 2023 Tour Dates
August 5 – Brooklyn, NY @ Union Pool – w/ canteenkilla, Kalia Vandever
October 25 – Portland, OR @ Revoluton Hall *
October 26 – Seattle, WA @ Neptune Theatre *
* = w/ Angel Olsen