Kelly Lee Owens - Inner Song [White 2LP]

Smalltown Supersound

£22.93

Format: white vinyl 2xLP (side 4 etched)
Cat: STS372LPC1
Barcode: 7072822372309
Released: 28th August 2020
Genre: Deep House

TRACKLISTING:
SIDE A:
1. Arpeggi
2. On
3. Melt!
4. Re-wild
Side B:
1. Jeanette
2. L.I.N.E.
3. Corner Of My Sky (ft. John Cale)
Side C:
1. Night
2. Flow
3. Wake-U

STS372LPC1 – White 2LP
Etched side D

Kelly Lee Owens' masterful second album Inner Song finds the convention-blurring techno producer and singer/songwriter diving deep into her own psyche—excoriating the struggles she's faced over the last several years and exploring personal pain while embracing the beauty of the natural world. It's a leap in artistry from a musician who burst forth on the scene with a confident, rich sound, and Inner Song is endlessly enticing when it comes to what Owens is capable of.

Inner Song follows the star-making debut of her 2017 self-titled album, a quixotic blend of body-moving beats and introspective songwriting that garnered numerous accolades from the music press. Owens has indeed come a long way from her background as a nurse, since then she has remixed Bjørk & St Vincent, released an indelibly clubby two-tracker, 2019's "Let It Go" b/w "Omen," and teamed up with likeminded auteur Jon Hopkins on the one-off "Luminous Spaces."

Her latest album also comes off of what Owens describes as "the hardest three years of my life," an emotionally fraught time that, in her words, "Definitely impacted my creative life and everything I'd worked for up to that point. I wasn't sure if I could make anything anymore, and it took quite a lot of courage to get to a point where I could make something again." So while the lovely cover of Radiohead's "Arpeggi" might strike some as an unconventional way to open a sophomore effort, to Owens the winding take on the classic tune—recorded a year before work on Inner Song properly kicked off—represents the sort of sonic rebirth that's so essential to Inner Song's aura.

Inner Song was largely written and recorded over a month last winter. As with her debut, Owens holed up in the studio with co-producer and collaborator James Greenwood —and letting loose in the studio and being open to whatever sonic whims emerge was essential to Owens' craftwork. The evocative title of the album is borrowed from free-jazz maestro Alan Silva's 1972 opus, which was gifted to Owens Smalltown Supersound's Joakim Haugland for her 30th birthday: "I'm so grateful for him and his perspectives—he's always thinking outside of the box. Those two words really reflect what it felt like to make this record. I did a lot of inner work in the past few years, and this is a true reflection of that." The hair-raising bass and tickling textures of Inner Song drive home that, more so than ever, Owens is locked in to delivering maximal sonic pleasure—as evidenced by the decision to make the album's vinyl release a sesqui album, or triple-sided album: "I'm still obsessed with frequencies that don't do well on vinyl if they don't have the space."

"The power of conceptualizing who you are has really informed this album," Owens states about Inner Song's essence, and her second album is truly a discovery of self— the latest statement from a fascinating artist who continues to surprise, gesturing towards a rich and varied career to come

PRESS/ONLINE:
Gold Flake Paint – 6 page feature in July/ August edition
Guardian Weekend – “Inner Song” included in “Summer Culture Fix” feature – issue dated June 13th
Dork – 2 page feature has now run – June issue
Q – very positive 4 star review has now run – June issue dated July
Music Tech – 6 page feature has now run – June issue
Guardian Guide – 3 page feature has now run – issue dated May 2nd
Mojo – 4 star album review by Stephen Worthy – May issue dated June
Electronic Beats – piece on electronica and eco aesthetics with quotes from Kelly has now run
Long Live Vinyl – page “Work in Progress” feature – April issue dated May
Long Live Vinyl – “Inner Song” included in “Coming Soon” column – April issue dated May
Mixmag – “Melt!” is number 4 in the Big Tunes column – April issue
Loud and Quiet – 10 page cover story is out now – March issue
Guardian – “Melt!” is in the Film and Music Playlist – issue dated February 28th
Mixmag – “Luminous Spaces” is number 1 in Big Tunes – February issue

https://www.nme.com/news/music/kelly-lee-owens-shares-new-single-and-video-on-2694854
https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/news/latest-news/kelly-lee-owens-unveils-new-single-on
https://ourculturemag.com/2020/06/25/kelly-lee-owens-shares-video-for-new-song-on/
https://topi.radio/2020/06/24/watch-kelly-lee-owens-video-for-new-song-on/
https://www.clashmusic.com/news/kelly-lee-owens-shares-new-cut-on
https://pitchfork.com/news/kelly-lee-owens-announces-new-album-shares-video-for-new-song-melt-watch/
https://pitchfork.com/news/kelly-lee-owens-shares-new-song-with-john-cale-listen/
https://thequietus.com/articles/28720-kelly-lee-owens-john-cale-new-track-corner-of-my-sky
https://ourculturemag.com/2020/08/05/kelly-lee-owens-shares-new-song-featuring-john-cale/

RADIO:
Kelly’s Dekmantel mix has gone live here:
https://soundcloud.com/dkmntl/dekmantel-podcast-287-kelly-lee-owens

OTHER ACTIVITY: http://www.smalltownsupersound.com/