Album Review: Dreamstate by Kelly Lee Owens

Kelly Lee Owens' brand of pop-leaning techno has been gaining her attention since 2017. With her fourth album Dreamstate, the first release on George Daniel of The 1975's new electronic imprint dh2, the Welsh songwriter, producer and DJ turns to dreaming as her MO, via ten tracks full to the brim with sonic escapism. It also sees her leaning into her vocals more than her previous three studio albums.

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"You know this job is just a stepping stone for you, don't you?" said a psychic medium, one of the patients at a cancer hospital in Manchester where Kelly Lee Owens worked as a nurse at 18. According to her prediction, the now-world-renowned Welsh-born DJ, singer, and producer would move to London and become a star. Just so you know, psychic mediums claim to communicate with spirits, so they must have even better "little birds" than Varys, the Master of Whisperers.

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Ever since this writer first heard Kelly Lee Owens' on Daniel Avery's 'Drone Logic', her solo work has been considered unmissable. Pairing the big room energy of Bicep with the creeping electronics of early Björk is a combo which has found her steadily garnering acclaim, and new album 'Dreamstate' should crown that ascent. Listeners will know her beat selection has often been exquisite but it’s Kelly's vocals that stand out here.

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With her fourth studio album, Dreamstate, Kelly Lee Owens seeks to reconcile her tendencies toward the ethereal with the melodic prowess that defined 2017’s Kelly Lee Owens and 2020's Inner Song. The album is an exploration of the blurry boundaries between the real and the imaginary, but the inherent risk in inviting listeners to dream is the chance that they may instead find themselves dozing off. While Dreamstate is sonically cohesive, the album often feels like a compromise between the propulsive and the sedate.

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