Oh, I'm not struggling to understand Kelsey's language. I recognize it for what it is, which is a lot of words to say not a lot, descending fairly regularly into gibberish. He's shoving in phrase after phrase that repeat the same general ideas, and occasionally one of them falls flat, or means nothing. "an island untouched by the sea" is simply an error, he wants something about an island and isolation, and winds up with this bizarre and meaningless phrase. Is the island supposed to be floating over the sea? Surrounded by a wall, perhaps? Is he referring to the parts of the island that don't touch the water? What he''s trying to say is obvious, but the metaphor falls flat because it doesn't mean anything. It's sloppy writing, in a style intended to sound smart without actually being smart.
These are appropriate methods to use (albeit with better editing) when you're trying to say something that is difficult or impossible to get at literally. You are left with poetry and metaphor.
When what you're trying to say is "this guy's subjects are metaphorically isolated from the background and this other guy's are not" then you're not in the territory of words being unable to express the ideas, so you can just use words rather than a pile of metaphors, clumsy or otherwise.
The "pile of metaphors and other phrases" writing style is used to give the impression that you're talking about the ineffable, the impossible to say with words, the turtle with no name, even when you are not.