In a world where artists are often cautioned to stay in their lane – to maintain a recognisable brand so you don’t get lost in a crowded, confusing market – there’s something impressive about Kelly Lee Owens. For the last seven years, her career has constituted a series of handbrake turns, fuelled by a disinclination to make the same record twice. Her debut album situated her at the nexus of ambient techno, shoegazing’s dreamy textures and the warm lo-fi fuzz of bedroom pop: for all its reliance on electronics, it was possible to detect that Owens had previously spent time as the bassist in an indie band, the History of Apple Pie. Inner Song, from 2020, was both more straightforwardly melodic and – with its four-to-the-floor beats – more dancefloor-focused; 2022’s LP.8 offered dark-hued ambience punctuated by punishingly distorted rhythms and almost nothing in the way of hooks: Owens spent more time incanting spoken word than she did singing.
After its release, Owens found herself supporting Depeche Mode on tour around the kind of immense US venues the band have been filling since time immemorial. Previously an alumnus of left-field Norwegian label Smalltown Supersound, she signed a new record deal, with dh2, a new electronic wing of Dirty Hit, helmed by George Daniel of the 1975. She also entered the orbit of Daniel’s fiancee, Charli xcx, appearing at her Partygirl event in Ibiza at the start of the summer.
