Ruston Kelly Pays Homage to Nineties Pop-Punk in ‘Radio Cloud’ Video

Ruston Kelly nods to his Nineties pop-punk influences in the new video for “Radio Cloud,” released on Wednesday. The song will appear on Kelly’s upcoming album Shape & Destroy, due August 28th via Rounder Records.

Directed by Stephen Kinigopoulos and Alexa King, the clip features Kelly playing with a full band in a dimly lit room, blinds drawn, graffiti scrawled on all the walls around him. It has the look and feel of earlier clips like Green Day’s “Longview” and Blink-182’s “Dammit,” some of the artists he covered on the 2019 EP Dirt Emo Vol. 1.

The video also features a storyline about a child caught in a tumultuous home situation and being shamed for having a vivid imagination, a trait — along with knowing oneself ­— that’s praised in Kelly’s lyrics. “Don’t take whatever they took/It’s just the way that they all get hooked,” he sings.

“Radio Cloud” is the latest release from Shape and Destroy, following “Rubber” and “Brave.” The album was recorded at Dreamland Recording Studios in New York and reunites Kelly with producer Jarrad K.

Over the weekend, Kelly and Kacey Musgraves went public with their plans to divorce after nearly three years of marriage, saying, “We’ve made this painful decision together” in a joint statement to the Associated Press. Musgraves also appears on one track from Shape & Destroy.