Kelly Lee Owens: LP.8- Track by Track Review

Kelly Lee Owens is a Welsh DJ who has made a career off of blending together both introspective songwriting and body-moving beats. Her second album 'Inner Song' released in 2020 was a huge critical success and helped to propel Kelly into a celebrated talent who has a phenomenal sonic palette. We thought we'd jump into her new album LP.8 to see if she could keep up the momentum.

Release

This was an album that came about as a release for Kelly's creativity during lockdown. The first track sees a static-like beat punctuated by breaths and what seems to sound like a door being gently banged on. It satisfyingly builds up the layers before subtly augmenting them, it always feels as though there's something shifting in the background. It feels vaguely ominous as the word "Release" is repeated again and again, yet it is that constant tension that makes it such an interesting track.

Voice

The deep drone that fills this track feels so tangible that it hits hard. It again retains a relatively eerie air to it, as a range of vocal effects overlay and split off to be distant echoes that dance around the main vocal melody. It makes you think of empty and open space in a transcendent way.

 Anadlu

We hear chimes echo out and it sounds as if you can almost feel the delicacy of each individual part as it fills up the ambient space. Anadlu means to breathe, to respire and that's exactly what we hear, deep exhales and inhales. There's a deeply calming feeling to this track as Kelly sings in her native Welsh language. It's a staggeringly beautiful song.

You could probably use it for meditation purposes it would be perfect. This is a song that only a master of creating soundscapes could create. 

 S.O (2)

The textures that you feel at the start of this track will either satisfy you or make your skin crawl. It later transitions into a sweeping track that features Kelly's soaring vocals dominating the track, offering as much comfort as the instrumentals. 

Olga

Another song that strikes a more foreboding tone, the art of tension and release being a key tool here of how Kelly wants you to experience the album. You're fully flowing in her direction and the album is so pleasing to sit with and give a dedicated listen to. Despite those tense moments the blissful sections really hit home.

Nana Piano

With the guidance of birdsong, the piano works its way into the track and it gives off that feeling of sitting in the sun whilst inside on a warm day, you aren't outside but the full beam is hitting your face straight through the window. When you get so many evocative thoughts from what is an instrumental song then the artist has achieved something wonderful.

Quickening

There's a satisfying static crackle that feels incredible to listen to on this song. "There is a vitality, an energy, a quickening that's translated through you into action" Kelly begins in one of her rare forays into speaking/singing. It's the subtleties in the sound, the chimes of bells and the rise and fall of the backing vocals that makes these songs so satisfying.

One

"You are the world you create" is just one of the statements made on this song. It's again in keeping with this album an incredibly satisfying listen and one of the busiest tracks too with plenty going on all the time. 

Sonic 8

Easily the most industrial effort on LP.8, we hear the phrase "This is an emergency, this is a wake-up call" being repeated again and again amongst a background that sounds as if it's about to fall out of the sky. Kelly questions what we're going to do about such an emergency in a cryptic message which could be applied to many different scenarios socially and personally. 

It's a suitably eerie ending that gets you thinking.

 In summary, the new Kelly Lee Owens album LP.8 is absolutely brilliant. Talk about emerging and engaging the listener in the sonic world that you create, she has done that flawlessly. It's an album process that started with no clear goal in mind but it has resulted in an exploration of energy and space that masterfully holds your attention all the way through. Go give it a listen!

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