Hear Me Out: ‘Inner Song’ by Kelly Lee Owens is a perfect album
A couple of weeks back, Welsh electronic artist Kelly Lee Owens released her fourth full-length record, Dreamstate. It was a solid collection of tracks that pushed the producer into new directions, incorporating more club-friendly pulsing soundscapes and pop production into her usual atmospheric ambience, but it didn’t feel quite as complete or as coherent as some of her earlier work. As I listened to the record over and over, longing to join Owens in her Dreamstate, I couldn’t help but wish I was listening to one of Owens’ earlier offerings, 2020’s Inner Song.
After sharing her debut album in 2017, Owens spent a few years honing her sophomore offering. She took her time with Inner Song and her artistry to an entirely new level in the process. The record pulled from more genres than most people could name, creating an ambient electronic soundscape out of trip-hop, pop, techno, and more, even throwing a Radiohead cover in there for good measure.
Owens’ talent as a producer shone through the cracks of her disjointed influences, as she somehow moulded them into one of the most coherent and entrancing albums in modern electronica. From the moment the glossy opening beats and pulses of ‘Arpeggi’ bleed into your headphones, it’s evident that Inner Song is a special piece of work, an album that ushers you into Owens’ world and keeps you there for 50 minutes or so.
The instrumental, electronic cover of ‘Arpeggi’ sets the tone for the record, reintroducing listeners to Owens’ minimalist ambience while maintaining some of Thom Yorke’s spirit. Electronic twists and turns bring the track to a close before the slightly lighter, brighter ‘On’ pulls you further into the world of Owens’ ambience. It’s at odds with the opener, prioritising the Welsh musician’s ethereal vocals, and yet it flows seamlessly.
The entire record follows this pattern, with Owens seeming just as committed to curating the flow and arrangement of Inner Song as she is concerned with creating great songs. Every song on the record stands up alone – ‘Melt!’ is an icy cool club track about climate change, ‘L.I.N.E’ is a transcendental venture into self-worth more than deserving of a place on your break-up playlist, and ‘Corner of My Sky’, which features an appearance from John Cale, provides a hint of something weirder.
But while each and every song works alone, they work far better sitting side by side. The most rewarding way to listen to Inner Song is to hit play or drop the needle on your turntable and then sit back. Allow the experimental ambience to wash over you, allow each track to flow into the next, and allow yourself to pass through trip-hop, pop, and psychedelic soundscapes without ever noticing the change in genre. And isn’t that exactly how an album should be best served?
In an era when many artists forgo the art of the album, instead chasing viral hits, Inner Song is an increasingly rare artistic feat. It’s not just a collection of songs from a series of studio sessions; it’s an album in its purest form, a record made to be devoured in one sitting. It envelops and entrances, never letting go until Owens encourages you to ‘Wake Up’ in those final moments.
Particularly in the realm of ambient and experimental music, this is exactly the kind of route that artists should be taking. Creating something whole, a project that flows seamlessly and sits within a world of its own is far more interesting than creating a couple of good tracks and then fluffing them up with fillers. Owens nails this on Inner Song, but the album isn’t entirely limited to this niche realm of electronic music.
Between her airy, shimmering vocals and the gorgeous melodies she surrounds them with, Inner Song also pulls pop influences, elements of R&B, and more into this all-enveloping soundscape. The result is an album that can and will captivate anyone who listens to it, whether they’ve never ventured into the world of ambient music before or whether they’re a certified experimental expert.
Four years have passed since Inner Song first received rave reviews from electronic fans, but it’s still just as worthy of that praise today. It remains the finest example of Owens doing what she does best: creating an ambience to get lost in, focusing on the coherence and overall quality of her work just as much as any individual detail. It’s a perfect album because it focuses so much on the idea of that medium.
