Kelly Lee Owens (2017)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mXCEfGWlzA

Fluctuating between dream pop and sublime minimal techno, Kelly Lee Owens debut arrives after years of production and collaborating with others. Recommended.

I like this a lot.

wow i like this a lot

lmao sorry to just repeat the content of lbi's post, it's been a long day

Even a short day would be good to repeat my content Brad :)

i had thought about starting this thread. thanks ross, you were faster. great stuff, love her voice and the different electronic and/or rhythmic flavours coming with it. very atmospheric music. reminds me a little of julia holter, who tends more towards classic songwriting. this is lighter, less pensive. something i always love about musicians, she has her own sound which definitely has a dreamy quality.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzEaFeIwbuk

"throwing lines" is my favorite upon first listen. there are some truly gorgeous moments on this record.

So happy to read this discussion. Kelly Lee IRRC is from the same scene as Braids and Purity Ring, so some of these tracks which are older ("Lucid") do have that kind of feel. But I think she's still unique in her sensibility

otm, it's about time music journalists focused on dream pop and sublime minimal techno

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UkpsMXR5lA

I mean this was designed for me

^ so good

So glad somebody started a thread on this; the record is sensational.

"S.O." is maybe my favorite album open of the year so far, and that stretch between "Lucid" and "Keep Walking" (i.e. the bulk of the album, I guess) is just fantastic.

Only track I'm really not feeling is "Arthur," and it's placed in such a position of prominence (artists tend to place their best/favorite track second on an album) that I feel like I'm missing something.

Here's a total gem not on the album, btw:

https://kellyleeowens.bandcamp.com/track/1-of-3

^ Love that track, too bad it's not on the album :)

Correction about a previous post upthread: Kelly was never part of the same scene as Purity Ring or Braids, she's british. It just seems she was making music back in the day that fell in with those flavours.

This album is awesome

...this is my favorite record of the year, and I don't see anything topping it. Yep.

Love this album so much. It's like the dreamiest moments of the Hannah Peel album but as a sustained vibe.

this is really great

had assumed "kelly lee owens" was a new modern country singer

Haha so did I initially

This is my new bedtime album

My current AOTY too. Wish I could describe its appeal better; I have a hard time selling it to people who haven't heard it

Grimes if she had leaned into (rather than away from) the SAW 85-92 resemblances after Visions?

that's an appealing description tim but so far i'm underwhelmed

i found a sealed copy of this on vinyl for like six bucks.

insane deal nomar :)

"Lucid" stands as a fine mission statement for this album, I think. It's essentially a psychedelic/dream pop album with forays into minimal techno/house. It's not as laser focused on the dancefloor as the prior EP was, and all the better for it. Perhaps this divides some people on the record, as it's in between?

probably! i feel like i should be into this because of the techno thing but i don't much care for dream pop

Hi late great - maybe check out the EP then? :-)

which one ross? i see three on discogs

i've heard oleic, that was more my speed for sure

CBM is a jam

Oleic yeah

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b1/Oleic-acid-based-on-xtal-1997-2D-skeletal.png/1200px-Oleic-acid-based-on-xtal-1997-2D-skeletal.png

Grimes if she had leaned into (rather than away from) the SAW 85-92 resemblances after Visions?

Oleic-acid-based-on-xtal-1997-2D-skeletal.png

hmmm

The colours the beauty the motion
The colours the beauty the motion
The colours the beauty the motion
The colours the beauty the motion

I really like this album a lot but I also think its a little underwhelming in spots. It relies on a very limited palette of sounds and it could do with a little bit more colour. "Lucid" and "CBM" are great moments but I'm not sure she quite gets the dynamics of dance euphoria - "Bird" in particular feels like it's pushing for some kind of rush but it just feels unfinished.

I've seen her post a few mixes where its clear she adores Tiga, and her vocals are all over the Daniel Avery album - I get the impression she likes that kind of sparse, lumpy, analogue techno a lot. I'd love to hear her apply this dream-pop ethereality to more maximalist influences.

good post boxedjoy.

I find it interesting she mentioned sound as a therapeutic vehicle in the pitchfork interview. The textures on this one do feel pretty healing, like the side-chained breathing on "Arthur" and its wobbling bass. The Oleic EP was more in one vein and in some ways I find it more hypnotizing and its sonic limits work more for me.

This LP is okay.

Ross have you ever heard this? It's a little more club-functional than this album but it's basically what I kinda hoped moments on this album would coalesce into resembling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfoiK__gOK4

Love KiNK.

good track

Bits of this album really remind me of that Pluramon album that had Julee Cruise on it. I like it better than that though.

^ oooh, love that album. If Time Was On My Side rules

Still my favorite album of the year. The fakeout on "Bird"—the lush intro, then the abrupt pivot when the bass kicks in—is such a glorious trick. It's such a minimalist album, yet she's hidden Easter eggs all over it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tB1MVSoKKw

NEW ALBUM INNER SONG
COMING MAY 1ST 2020
http://kellyleeowens.lnk.to/innersong

ooooh, john cale guests

Yaaaaaa

"Melt!" is fun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kW0vbVEIXE

new one "On" is really good:

https://youtu.be/53EWchMsij8

New album is *chef’s kiss*

Yeah great album! Was not expecting a Radiohead cover in there and it's actually surprisingly decent. 'Flow' reminds me of another song too... aphex twin maybe?

It's very natural sequel to her debut but you can tell how much she has grown as an artist from one album to another. She doesn't sound constrained about working with loops at all.

highlights on first listen: on, night, flow.

Wait, what? I need to spend more time on Spotify because this was an artist that Spotify Hipster Boyfriend was really very seriously "you *need* to hear this!!!" about, until I loved the first album. I feel remiss in not being on Spotify as much, to realise there is a new one and if it's got RH and AFX references I should be all over that!

LOL, I just looked at my Spotify Hipster Boyfriend Release Radar and yes, he's all "COME ON THERE'S A NEW KELLY LEE OWENS ALBUM AND ALSO DID YOU KNOW AVALON EMERSON HAS A NEW TRACK COME ON COME ON GO LISTEN GO GO GO!" and now I feel bad for not paying attention.

Intrigued. She’s been consistently good so far.

not sure what i think of this new one yet but it is definitely a curveball. it's ambient, but not a very cuddly kind of ambient

Quite surprised at how industrial the first and last tracks are. Reminded of Jenny Hval.

coproduced by one of Hval's producers

I like this. After some of what I had read about it, I thought it might be more abrasive, but I guess those comments are just in relation to her earlier work. It’s not an “easy” listen I guess, but there’s plenty to draw you in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EpmtYUfphI

goes surprisingly hard!

the album apparently has collaborations with george daniel, bicep, and tom rowlands

yessssssssss

my body is ready for Kelly Lee Owens to hit the dancefloor

wow, this is great.

Cool

Very much digging this

oh HELL yes

i missed the memo that klo has a great voice. this is like halfway between dance-pop like 'padam padam' and idk superpitcher or something. really nice lyrics too imo.

Oh yeah, I wanted her to sing more on her other stuff because the bits where she has included her vocals have been really nice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxwBD3J70lU

it's not another "love you got" but i really like where it ends up anyway

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqtcsYgn9s4

album's going to rule

jeez that's beautiful

aoty probably

she put on a heckuva garden show at MoMA recently

p excited for this album! glad she got whatever the last album represented out of her system :)

'higher' is absolutely blinding

i have to be careful about when i listen to 'higher' because i will BAWL

Damn, she's going to break out big time with this one isn't she

album rules!

a o t y

o m g

Oh wow

saving this for a run today, psyched

mind the levitation

Love. It.

Her best? I guess I should listen more than once to say so, but it’s great.

there's some good stuff on here but i'm not really into it as an album i don't think. the end feels too sunday school-y with lyrics that are less poetic and more like therapy affirmations imo. i think those two singles are my favorite things here by far, though i liked 'sunshine' and 'ballad' especially. the beat drops out for 'ballad' which is quite gorgeous and made me think of eno, the strings are lovely on it. and 'sunshine' just sounds like a nice energetic summer tune. a couple of other mood pieces with mantra lyrics like 'dreamstate' and 'air'.

those two singles meaning 'love you got' and 'higher'

Similar to map, I don't like everything here. Some of the singles and techno-ish moments yes (title track, Love You Got, Sunshine), the exalted ethereal vibe throughout not so much. Maybe a few too many songs go for the same effect.

somehow exceeds high expectations from the singles, for me. Perhaps it's the exalted ethereal vibe!

Yeah I am very pro-exalted ethereal vibe. I know what she’s doing here isn’t complex or pathbreaking but it is just squarely in my aesthetic playground/comfort zone. Goes straight to my neural pleasure centers.

I read an interview where she said the Ray of Light album was a big touchstone, which makes sense (both in terms of its sonic palette and my reaction to it).

"rise" is insane

By far her most pleasing record that still somehow stays true to her style and personality. Just joy from start to finish!

Saw someone on Reddit describe this as "advanced H&M music," and they're not wrong but it's in the best way possible.

The music is the best thing about H&M

It's not for me but Dreamstate is an epically great club track. I can't wait to hear it out.

The Or:La remix of “Rise” is like “This Woman’s Work (Artillery Snares Mix)”

omg absolutely

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfCtTna7GOo

Saw her last night, she's so great! Check her out if you still can

Or:la's album Trusting Theta made my album ballot along with KLO. Remix is choice

yeah i saw her in brooklyn last week and it was a phenomenal show

Saw the Portland show a few nights ago, it was v. v. good!

Spent a lot of time listening to this album in a cold Dachgeschoss in Kreuzberg last winter and then somehow never picked it up again

But Ray of Light comparisons will make me listen to just about anything

finally got around to the top 77 and OH MY GOD THIS ALBUM RULES