Inner Songs by Kelly Lee Owens | Album Review
Owens 2020 album weaves a blend of icy technical sounds that tickle the ears.
I love seeing lists of musicians to look out for or albums that should be looked into. I always want to see what the hype is for and is it really worth it. I have several albums in my notes app to review based off a list I saw from NPR of what I think were the best albums from last year. I read the little blurb on Kelly from this article and the words Dream Pop caught my eye and I had to dive into the album after seeing that.
The first song on the album is a cover of Radiohead’s “Arpeggi”. Where Radiohead original is built off of guitars, Kelly’s version all electronic and devoid of the vocals on the track. It makes for this chilly feel. The hum of bass and electronic tones provide an almost crystalline landscape. It’s sparse, but still feels full. I quite like this take on the track. “On” has these beautiful electronic tones with a subtle house like beat in the background. Kelly’s vocals are beautiful here. I read that she wanted to call this “Spirit of Keith” (For the late Keith Flint from the band The Prodigy) and that this is where some of the nods to rave/house music come from here. It sounds very fresh. Lyrically, she sings about a relationship on its last legs. The end of the track really brings in those rave influences in a fun and interesting manner. “Melt!” is a pure and simple dance track. She includes samples of things like skating on ice, glaciers melting, and icicles cracking. This with the echoing lyrics “Ice/ While you sleep…” make for a chillingly beautiful electronic track. “Re-Wild” is a sexy pop dance track. She writes she was inspired by Rihanna here, and I can definitely feel it. It’s slow bubbling bassline really give it that tone. The lyrics further this heavy sensual tone “Take and release… take and release.” I really enjoy this track. “Jeanette” is an instrumental track. It’s bouncy with its bubbly synths and subtle driving beat. The squeaky beats here give kind of an underwater tone. It’s kind of reminds me of of SNES music, of which I throughly enjoy. A great track to put on and zone out. “L.I.N.E” is another icy electronic pop track. The synths here are almost iridescent in nature. Kelly’s vocals glow through this track. The lyrics speak on begin love of the idea of a relationship and needing to breakaway. I really really enjoy the atmosphere of this track. “Corner of My Sky” features John Cale (of The Velvet Underground) who provides the spoken word and vocal portions to this track. It’s a trippy song, very psychedelic. Kelly wanted to experiment with adding Welsh into this track, on which John Cale adds. I have to say it is probably my least favorite on the album. The song gets vey monotonous over time.“Night” has these bubbly elastic-like electronic synth parts that repeat. It very slowly builds with Kelly repeatedly singing lines that build from what you think is her enjoying her solitude with herself to being alone with someone else. When the “With You” lines come in, the track breaks into the heavy dance beat. “Flow” is another instrumental electronic track. It reminds me of music from Super Metroid, and I mean that in the best way possible. It’s got this dark frozen feel, but still reminds me of house/rave music. I quite like it. “Wake-Up” is the final track on the album. It has an almost trip-hop feel to it, reminds me of William Orbit’s work with Madonna. The lyrics focus on the monotonous nature of life, repeating the same things over and over but taking nothing in. A beautiful track.
I can’t say that I have heard anything quite like this before. It felt like the rush of a cool breeze listening to this record, refreshing. Kelly makes some very solid choices here. If you enjoy electronic music, give this a try. It’s a great listen. My stand out tracks:
- “Arpeggi”
- “Re-Wild”
- “Jeanette”
- “L.I.N.E”
- “Wake Up”
My overall rating: 7.5 out of 10
