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Aug 27, 2020By allowing her songs to breathe, leaving space for contemplation, ‘Inner Song’ is a perfectly-arranged album where each track has a part to play: an emotive-yet-euphoric collection that’s made for late-night reflection, Kelly Lee Owens has made one of the most beautiful records of the year.
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Aug 27, 2020If Kelly Lee Owens gently opened the door between dream pop and techno, Inner Song rushes through it and builds a world where ecstatic, curative, untethered electronic sounds abound. Owens’ strides are most evident in Inner Song’s club cuts.
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Aug 26, 2020It’s hard not to lavish Owens with praise here, but atop Inner Song’s exceptional track list and an underlying message based around acceptance and healing, Owens uses those experiences to expand into a wider array of exploration and storytelling.
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Oct 2, 2020Inner Song's highs are very high. Beyond the bang-on production, the LP feels like as much of a journey for the listener as it does the protagonist.
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Aug 31, 2020Owens’s is not the only voice elevating this album: Welsh legend John Cale contributes to the brooding Corner of My Sky. Alongside relationship breakdown and the death of her grandmother (the coolly arpeggiating Jeanette), climate apocalypse gets a workout too.
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Aug 28, 2020Throughout is a sense of wonderment at being alone. Perhaps solitude is an underrated pursuit, but with Inner Song, Owens makes a highly convincing case for it.
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Aug 28, 2020By creating an album that speaks to her own experiences in its every nuance, she’s crafted one of the finest subversive pop records of the year.
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MojoAug 25, 2020Melt!, a twisted dancefloor lament for the polar ice caps, is a reminder of Owen's ability to mine techno gold. But the highlight is Corner Of My Sky, a memorable collaboration with compatriot John Cale. [Jun 2020, p.91]
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Q MagazineAug 25, 2020Occasionally the vocals soften the edges, but on a record that feels as if it's trying to catch the moment of changing states - geological and mental - it's dynamism always powers through. [Summer 2020, p.104]
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UncutAug 25, 2020A welcome development is Owens' voice: this time, when deployed, it's positioned centrally. [Sep 2020, p.35]
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Aug 25, 2020“The power of conceptualising who you are has really informed this album,” Owens states about Inner Song‘s essence, and her second album executes it perfectly. This album is an eye-opening discovery of self, laid bare for all to see.
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Aug 25, 2020Owen's second album is nonetheless a triumph of soundscapes, an album not meant to analyze and decipher but to daydream, sleepwalk and stargaze through.
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Sep 1, 2020Equal parts sumptuous and subdued, it’s an album that flows seamlessly and possesses an elegant poise at its very essence.
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Sep 1, 2020For Owens, loops—both electronic and lyrical—are a grounding presence, like a chant uttered in a meditative state: a simple phrase or pattern that functions as a conduit to another world. With Inner Song, Owens seeks to take the listener to a place of healing, finding solace in the shelter of a repeated chord progression.
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Aug 28, 2020Like her debut, Inner Song covers a lot of emotional ground, and her exploratory spirit is just as captivating as the messages she expresses.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 26 out of 29
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Mixed: 1 out of 29
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Negative: 2 out of 29
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Aug 28, 2020
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Jun 5, 2022
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Nov 29, 2021Stunning work by a beautiful woman playing some tunez...highly highly recommend!
And congrats on your recent Welsh award. Barvo!