- Mechanical spirituals for not-so-good times.
- Kelly Lee Owens' breathtaking Inner Song was the perfect distillation of the Welsh producer's competing impulses. On the one hand, there was a budding pop star on "L.I.N.E." On the other, the guns blazing techno aficionado of "Melt" hinted towards something else. But Inner Song was also an endpoint for Owens. Last year's LP.8 let go of both pop song structures and dance music's rhythmic templates. The result was an album where both her drums and voice melted into pure texture, at turns both beautiful and daunting—how else could you describe "Anadlu," where inhalations of her breath were accented by one of the meanest kick drums anywhere? Owens' latest EP, LP.8.2, released as a companion to that album, carries on with these spectral and abstract ruminations.
There's always been a whiff of incense to Owens' work, but we're a long way away from the sitars that graced her self-titled debut. The spiritualism here is rougher, both more synthetic and syncretic, as if Owens were searching for peace in a world amidst apocalypse. At first pass, "Moebius" is a terrifying indictment of the present: rattling subs distort the stereo as she reminds us, "Anxiety / We all feel it." Likewise, there's something menacing about the vinyl crackle and bassweight on "Rituals," but her looped voice and the soft clicking machines provide a fleeting moment of epiphany.
Owens' hunt for catharsis climaxes on the record's final track, "Find Our Way." Sure, there is a bit of fierceness in the low-end, but the undulating chords, stuttering drum, and refrain, "In love, we find our way," give the song end credits gravitas. Both LP.8 and LP.8.2 were compiled from the same recording sessions. And across both releases, "Find Our Way," is the closest thing to a proper song. The song may not have the sort of crossover appeal of "S.O.," but it falls somewhere between Björk and Julia Holter, teasing yet another direction for Owens' to take her mechanical hymns.
Tracklist01. Rituals
02. Moebius
03. The First Song
04. Find Our Way