In an interview published in recent days on our pages, Kelly Lee Owens declared that the creation of an album like “Dreamstate”, her fourth, would not have been possible if she had not first gone through a more reflective and static. It is therefore among the smoky and circular atmospheres of “LP.8” that the producer Welshman has rediscovered a self-confidence and an awareness capable of accepting, and to a certain extent enjoying, even his own vulnerability.
It appears clear from the very first electronic roars of the album that this is the most unbridled work recorded by the artist so far, the most pounding and exuberant. Which perhaps precisely for these reasons cannot match the celestial grandeur of the dream techno masterpiece “Inner Song” (Smalltown Supersound, 2020) and which, however, precisely because it is a little “shameless”, manages to reach moments of enormous freedom and irresistible liveliness.
For example, the introduction to “Dark Angel” is pure emotion, which captivates even before the beats with a brazen mixture of chillwave synthesizers and nostalgic Europop reminiscences. There title track it is a slow-fueling techno torpedo that takes us to the usual rave in the clouds using the fire of the 90s English rave scene (Orbital and Underworld above all) as a propellant – it is here that the hand of the chemist brother Tom Rowland, called to produce the album together with Bicep and George Daniel. Even more alluring is “Love You Got”, a dance mine reminiscent of Disclosure's most recent lesson, which is followed by the rarefied deep house decorated with piano “Higher”.
Other dance numbers such as “Sunshine” and “Time To” begin their rides more timidly, but, especially in the case of the first, they make up for it with lively endings characterized by trance. The aforementioned vulnerability emerges instead in the trio of songs composed of “Trust & Desire”, “Ballad” and “Air”. Here Owens' sincerity and sighing singing marry her never-quenched passion for analog synthesizers, ready to translate the artist's soul into rapturous vibrations.
All things considered, this is the first album devoted (almost) entirely to dance for Kelly Lee Owens. And from this point of view, thanks also to the collaborators involved, it is a successful bet.
The alchemical balance between the ethereal parts and those dominated by beat achieved by KLO in “Inner Song”, here however it is the legacy only of isolated circumstances. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's a bitter taste left by expectations. Which, after 4 such different albums, we would do well to leave alone. Thinking only of dancing, once again, with my head in the clouds.
10/17/2024
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM