KELLY LEE OWENS – ARPEGGI
2020-08-31Tracks such as ‘Arpeggi’, the Radiohead cover which begins Inner Song, and the John Cale collaboration ‘Corner Of My Sky’ find Owens maintaining the sonic palette of techno but pushing on into a zone of etherised electronics that draws from Spiritualized, Brian Eno and μ-Ziq. Owens says that Inner Song has emerged from a rather difficult period in her personal life, and on electro-ballads like ‘Re-Wild’ we find her facing down those experiences with some of her most forthright vocal performances to date. Glasser and Owens’ former collaborator Jon Hopkins would both be good points of comparison for these numbers. However, Owens does not allow her struggles to overshadow her love for the dancefloor – ‘Melt!’ and ‘Jeanette’ are the sort of steely-eyed, slightly trippy techno tools one associates with labels like Ostgut Ton and Stroboscopic Artefacts.