Kelly Lee Owens – 21+

When she was in high school, Kelly Lee Owens won two certificates: one was for music lover of the year, the other was for daydreamer of the year. “Even as a kid my mum said I would daydream a lot—she called it ‘Kelly’s World,’” the musician and DJ laughs. These prophecies provided the foundation for her career as a respected name in electronic music for ethereal work that uses the steely nature of the genre to articulate a connection with something greater. Her latest album Dreamstate is a monument to dreaming, and is the hotly anticipated debut release for The 1975’s George Daniel’s new electronic music imprint on Dirty Hit, dh2. Its pop melodies elevate techno beats to tell a story of heartbreak and subsequent recovery and growth through choosing to gaze higher. 

As such, Dreamstate is built on the foundations of collaboration, with writing-features from Andrew Ferguson and Matthew McBriar (on the blissful sunrise trance track ‘Rise’) and The Chemical Brothers (on the soft Björk-esque ‘Ballad (In The End)’). “I was so curious to see where my energy could meet with someone else’s,” the highly independent creator explains. “And, more importantly, if I was capable of still being the Executive Producer and it still sounding like me, even though I’m working with different people to write.” 

Dreamstate is self Produced by Kelly Lee Owens, mixed by David Wrench with additional production, programming from George Daniel, BICEP, Tom Rowland, Phil Scully, Oli Bayston, James Greenwood.