Kelly Lee Owens Inner Song – 7th Level Music

Kelly Lee Owens announces U.S. tour and remix EP.

Producer and musician Kelly Lee Owens is “reclaiming space for women in dance music in really powerful and important ways” (NPR Music). Last year, she released Inner Song, one of 2020’s best albums, via Smalltown Supersound. Today, she announces a US tour in support of the album — tickets are on sale. Kicking off at Brooklyn’s Music Hall of Williamsburg, Owens will play across the states, including appearances at Chicago’s Pitchfork Music Festival and Miami’s III Points Festival. Additionally, she will release the Inner Song Remix Series EP this Friday. It features remixes by Loraine James, Coby Sey, Roza Terenzi, Elkka, Breaka, Yazzus, and Haider.

Inner Song Remixes EP Tracklist
1. Re-Wild (Breaka Remix)
2. Wake-Up (Loraine James Remix)
3. On (Elkka Remix)
4. Night (Roza Terenzi Remix)
5. L.I.N.E. (Yazzus Remix)
6. Corner of my Sky feat. John Cale (Coby Sey Rework)
7. Jeanette (Haider Remix)

Kelly Lee Owens Tour Dates
Wed. Sept. 8 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
Fri. Sept. 10 – Chicago, IL @ Pitchfork Music Festival
Sat. Sept. 11 – Philadelphia, PA @ Making Time
Mon. Sept. 13 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
Tue. Sept. 14 – Washington, DC @ Union Stage
Thu. Sept. 16 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line
Fri. Sept. 17 – Denver, CO @ Globe Hall
Sat. Sept. 18 – Seattle, WA @ Nuemos
Sun. Sept. 19 – Portland, OR @ Holocene
Wed. Sept. 22 – Oakland, CA @ Starline
Sat. Sept. 25 – Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room
Fri. Oct. 22 – Sat. Oct. 23 – Miami, FL @ III Points Festival

Watch/Listen/Share
Preorder Inner Song Remix Series EP
Stream/Purchase Inner Song
“Melt!” Visuals
“On” Video
“Corner of My Sky” Video
“Night” Stream

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[Thanks to Ahmad at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Top 35 albums of 2020: #’s 15 – 11

We’re more than halfway through the list now. Let’s not waste time.

#15: Ela Minus – Acts of Rebellion

Part-electro, part-goth, all great. Ela Minus made us move, stand up and fight, and otherwise get off our collective duffs during a year when we needed to be shaken out of our funks.

#14: October and the Eyes – Dogs and Gods

Have you ever seen Cult of the Cobra from 1955? In that movie, a woman who can turn into a cobra tracks down the men who, for kicks, infiltrated her cult’s rituals, and kills them one by one. She falls in love with one of the men, however, and you can guess the rest. This album is pretty much what the Cobra Woman would have playing on her ear buds as she stalked and seduced her victims.

#13: Falle Nioke and Ghost Culture – Youkounkoun

“Barké,” a song from this EP, stopped me in my tracks the first time I heard it. The record mixes Afrobeat and electronica in perfect amounts, resulting in slick dance tracks and hypnotic songs.

#12: Kelly Lee Owens – Inner Song

Kelly Lee Owens makes electronic music that can make you dance, sigh, relax, or meditate – all sometimes in the same track. Her second album continues to set the bar high for others behind her. I say it many times, but I don’t mind repeating it – She’s both an inspiration for me to make my own electronic music and at other times throw my digital turntables out the window due to thinking, “Damn, that’s just not fair.” after hearing her tracks.

#11: Public Practice – Gentle Grip

Trust me, this post-punk debut album is as intriguing and sexy as its cover. I’d been waiting for a full-length Public Practice album since 2019 when they released a few singles and I saw them live in Chicago. The wait was well worth it. Gentle Grip is outstanding and leaves you eager for more.

The top 10 are next!

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Review: Kelly Lee Owens – Inner Song

It takes guts to open your new album with a Radiohead cover, but that’s exactly what Kelly Lee Owens does on her (no shocker, if you’d heard her amazing self-titled debut – which was my top album of 2017) excellent new record, Innner Song. Owens has stated in press releases that Inner Song follows “the hardest three years of my life,” and one could view the record (and her) as a phoenix rising from ashes.

That aforementioned Radiohead cover is “Arpeggi” (from 2007’s In Rainbows) and she starts it with subtle, humming bass that’s almost subliminal. Owens sings about letting go of things in the past that cannot be fixed on “On” – which has her voice moving and sounding like birds released from a cage. It builds into a thumping, bumping floor-filler. Owens excels at tracks like this that take you on a journey from peaceful meditations to booty-shaking workouts.

“Melt!” – a song about global warming that samples collapsing glaciers and people ice skating – deserves to be on every DJ’s hot list of dance tracks this year. “Free yourself with the truth that’s already in you,” Owens sings on the haunting “Re-Wild.” It’s advice all of us can use, and Owens’ use of echoing synths helps it sink in like acupuncture needle. “Jeanette” is all bouncy synths and beats that make you want to dance and then hug everyone and then dance some more.

“L.I.N.E.” (“Love Is Not Enough”) has Owens realizing that “love is not enough to stay…love is not enough alone” as she walks away from a dead-end relationship with someone offended by truth. “Corner of My Sky” features none other than John Cale on vocals singing and speaking poetry over Owens’ lush synths. “Night” blends house, ambient, and chill wave, and “Flow” is perfectly named as it bumps, grooves, sways, and, yes, flows along like a happy balloon bouncing down the street on a summer wind. The album ends with sort of a reverse lullaby on “Wake-Up.” The soft song is great for relaxation, but Owens tells us (and herself) to open our eyes and move forward (the only direction we can move in this life, really).

That fact that Owens could create an album as lovely as Inner Song after “the hardest three years of my life” is a testament to her fortitude. I’m glad she made it through the trials and came out, like a phoenix, stronger.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jessica at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Kelly Lee Owens’ new single, “On,” shows she continues to do no wrong.

Techno producer/musician Kelly Lee Owens unveils a new single/video, “On,” from her forthcoming album, Inner Song, out August 28th on Smalltown Supersound. Following “Night” and “Melt!,” “On” is a rustling electro-pop glimmer that gives way to yo-yo synths and a tough-as-nails techno backbeat. It’s the alpha and omega of the Kelly Lee Owens experience, reflective of her ability to contain sonic and emotional multitudes within just one song. Shot on the Norwegian coastline, its accompanying video sees Kelly collaborating once again with Kasper Häggström, who also directed her “Throwing Lines” video. Like the song, it tells the story of a breakup.

“This is perhaps the most intimate and personal song I’ve written so far – the two halves of the track reflect upon sad acceptances of the truth and then the joyous aftermath of liberation that can come from that,” says Owens. “This can definitely be heard in the production and arrangement of the track – the first half sonically connecting to the inner revelations and the second half, the liberation in action, the forward motion.”
Watch Kelly Lee Owens’ “On” Video
Inner Song is the follow-up to Owens’ self-titled debut, which “introduced an extraordinary artist packing a hefty one-two combination of intimate, powerful electronic pop and cavernous, brain-melting techno” (MOJO), and was recognized as one of the most critically praised albums of 2017. It finds Owens diving deep into her own psyche—working through the struggles she’s faced over the last several years and exploring personal pain while embracing the beauty of the natural world. Sonically, Inner Song’s hair-raising bass and tickling textures drive home that, more so than ever, Owens is locked into delivering maximal aural pleasure, whether it be on a techno banger, covering Radiohead, or collaborating with fellow Welsh artist John Cale on a psychedelic lullaby.
Listen to “Night” by Kelly Lee Owens

Watch Kelly Lee Owens’ Visuals for “Melt!”

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[Thanks to Jessica at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Kelly Lee Owens make us “Melt!” with her new single from her upcoming album – “Inner Song.”

Convention-blurring techno producer/musician Kelly Lee Owens will release her second album, Inner Song, on May 1st via Smalltown Supersound. Alongside the announcement, she presents its lead single/visual, “Melt!” Inner Song finds Owens diving deep into her own psyche—working through 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 is steadily enticing. Inner Song follows the 2017 release of her much lauded self-titled debut, as well as remixes of St. Vincent and by Björk, last year’s “Let It Go / Omen” 12”, and her recent collaboration with Jon Hopkins.

The hair-raising bass and tickling textures of Inner Song drive home that, more so than ever, Owens is locked in to delivering maximal aural pleasure and is adept at containing musical and emotional multitudes within just one song. The album features an unconventional Radiohead cover, the voice of fellow Welsh artist John Cale over a psychedelic lullaby, an electro-pop number that glimmers with yo-yo synths and a tough as nails backbeat, and techno banger “Melt!” Although sonically distinct from the rest of Inner Song, “Melt!” is an essential piece of the album. Throughout, Owens comments on the ever-pressing issue of climate change, right down to its structural composition, which includes samples of melting glacial ice and people skating on thin ice. “I wanted to create something that sounded hard but with organic samples.I felt those were great representations of what’s happening in the world, that every moment you’re breathing and sleeping, this is taking place,” says Owens. Its accompanying video, directed by filmmakerLaneya Billingsley (aka Billie0cean), creates a connection between our bodies and the earth, and shows how the two are not separate.
Watch Kelly Lee Owens’ Visuals for “Melt!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kW0vbVEIXE

Stream “Melt!”
https://kellyleeowens.lnk.to/melt
Inner Song came out of what Owens describes as “the hardest three years of my life. . .my creative life and everything I’d worked for up to that point was deeply impacted. 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 create again.” The evocative title of the album, borrowed from free-jazz maestro Alan Silva‘s 1972 opus, “really reflects 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.”

Inner Song is available for pre-order now. The vinyl is being released as a sesquialbum, or triple-sided album, with the fourth side etched by Kim Hiorthøy.
Pre-order Inner Song
https://kellyleeowens.lnk.to/innersong

Inner Song Tracklist:
1. Arpeggi
2. On
3. Melt!
4. Re-Wild
5. Jeanette
6. L.I.N.E.
7. Corner Of My Sky
8. Night
9. Flow
10. Wake-Up

Kelly Lee Owens Tour Dates:
Fri. Feb. 28 – London, UK @ Southbank Centre (DJ)
Sat. Feb. 29 – Milan, IT @ Contemporary Art Pavillion (DJ)
Fri. March. 6 – London, UK @ 6 Music Festival (DJ)
Sat. March. 7 – Graz, AT @ Elevate Festival (DJ)
Sat. March. 21 – Istanbul, TU @ Babylon (DJ)
Fri. March. 27 – Rome, IT @ Manifesto Festival (DJ)
Wed. May. 06 – Brighton, UK @ Patterns – Warm Up Show
Fri. May. 08 – Manchester, UK @ YES – Warm Up Show
Sat. May. 09 – Berlin, DE @ Pitchfork Music Festival
Wed. May. 13 – London, UK @ Rough Trade East
Sat. May. 23 – London, UK @ All Points East Festival
Sun. June. 14 – Dhërmi, AL @ Kala Festival
Sat. June. 27 – Perk, BE @ Paradise City Festival
Fri. July. 10 – Bilbao, ES @ BBK Live Festival
Thu. July. 30 – Amsterdam, NL @ Dekmantel Festival

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