Allegra Krieger Walks Us Through I Keep My Feet On The Fragile Plane Track By Track

This past Wednesday, we crowned Allegra Krieger’s brand new album, I Keep My Feet On The Fragile Plane, our Album of the Week. So few records from this summer have arrived at such a dense, thoughtful and wondrous magnitude. Across all 10 tracks on I Keep My Feet On The Fragile Plane, Krieger separates herself from her songwriting peers, as she forges a collection of stories that are as curious as they are fully formed. As soon as I first heard the album a few months ago, I knew I needed the whole story.

In turn, we invited Krieger to share some of the backstory behind each track that comprises her beautiful new record. While you’re here, I hope you’ll take some time to read Emma Bowers’ incredible review of I Keep My Feet On The Fragile Plane. Listen to the album as you go, and read on to hear Krieger give the scoop on what makes her best work sing.

“Making Sense Of”
This song sorta came in one fell swoop & didn’t fully take on meaning until after it was written. Now, for me, it’s about accepting uncertainty & embracing + trusting in destiny. I really love how spontaneous the synth part is, and the cyclical nature of the song—like life, where randomness and cyclicality coexist.

“A Place For It To Land”
This one was written about the feeling of new love coming at a time when I was a bit closed off. I felt an intense clarity in my solitude. I was in love with my room, my apartment, my neighborhood, and was relatively content in observation, without those emotional heights or depths. This new relationship initially felt complex, for a few different reasons, and this song is an expression of my desire to keep things simple, to repel closeness.

“Nothing In This World Ever Stays Still”
I wrote this in 2020 when I was briefly staying in California. Wildfires were really hurting southern CA and it really emphasized the fragility of cities/societal structure. I was moving between friend’s apartments, from Joshua tree to Alhambra, Venice & Lincoln park; personally, I was just all over the place, working at a sports bar and also cleaning apartments/picking up odd gigs via Task Rabbit and Craigslist. Looking back, it was the beginning of a strange, slow & painful end to a relationship back in New York, and I think this time out west was a moment of respite—to sorta get back in touch with myself, to swim in the Pacific Ocean and really have some time to acknowledge how much, and how quickly everything was changing, internally and externally.

“Let It Go, Watch It Come Back”
I wrote this song after a walk with a friend/momentary romantic interest in the summer rain, feeling very at peace with the idea of giving love without any expectations or attachments. It really was just a very beautiful day, and I was living alone at the time, and as happy as I was to spend the day with this person, I was equally happy to return home and make a nice meal and watch my TV and look out the window or whatever else I was doing. This song is just about letting go of control and painful memories, and letting in pleasure.

“I Wanted To Be”
This song is hard for me to discuss, I’m not really sure how to say what it’s about, cause it shifts in meaning for me. It just evokes a certain feeling I guess. As it stands within the album, it’s the song with the least restraint, and feels the most cathartic.

“I Had Some To Give”
For me this one feels like sifting through a disorganized memory, uncertain where specific feelings are coming from, recognizing something, turning away from it… And, at the end, just offering up what you have to the moment/the person/the place, even if it’s not much, or if the intention has yet to be fully realized.

“Carry Me Into Tomorrow”
This song is like walking through a dream; a glitching world, a chaotic city, and taking the time to observe everything moving around you, how it all feels. It’s about uncovering feelings of love and belonging in your surroundings; signs in the skies, wind, traffic lights, birds—it’s a consideration of the way it all fits together.

“Terribly Free”
This song feels like sitting peacefully with closed eyes in a plastic chair underground in a subway station during rush hour, and then opening your eyes and you’re in heaven and nothing ever even mattered at all.

“Low”
“Low” is an ode to my apartment, my bartending job, keeping things organized, in boxes & lines. Admiring beauty from afar. It’s about relieving oneself of emotional dependency from outward influences, which can be both empowering and extremely isolating. Being open to anything & expecting nothing.

“Lingering”
This song is about loss, I think—remnants of memory and wanting to quell the desire to possess anything at all. During this time in my life, I really put a lot of stock into the organization of a day; the timing of street lights, the smells of a place, the feeling of being close to someone, or something . In a way, I opened myself up to the idea of being held, and transported by all these different images and sensations; Moving through them and then letting go.