2 CD Kelly Lee Owens masterful second album Inner Song finds the convention-blurring techno producer and singer / songwriter diving deep into her own psyche—excoriating the struggles shes faced over the last several years and exploring personal pain while embracing the beauty of the natural world. Its a leap in artistry from a musician who burst forth on the scene with a confident, rich sound, and Inner Song is endlessly enticing when it comes to what Owens is capable of. Inner Song was largely written and recorded over a month last winter. As with her debut, Owens holed up in the studio with co-producer and collaborator James Greenwood —and letting loose in the studio and being open to whatever sonic whims emerge was essential to Owens craftwork. The evocative title of the album is borrowed from free-jazz maestro Alan Silvas 1972 opus, which was gifted to Owens Smalltown Supersounds Joakim Haugland for her 30th birthday: “Im so grateful for him and his perspectives—hes always thinking outside of the box. Those two words really reflect what it felt like to make this record. I did a lot of inner work in the past few years, and this is a true reflection of that.” The hair-raising bass and tickling textures of Inner Song drive home that, more so than ever, Owens is locked in to delivering maximal sonic pleasure—as evidenced by the decision to make the albums vinyl release a sesqui album, or triple-sided album: “Im still obsessed with frequencies that dont do well on vinyl if they dont have the space.”
