Perfil
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. Owens grew up in North Wales among breathtaking Celtic landscapes that have always inspired the sonics of her music. “You’re very grounded when you grow up in the countryside and there’s a sense of freedom because you have a lot of space,” she explains. “It’s quite a derogatory term, being a ‘daydreamer,’ because it undermines capitalism, class, status and all the structures we have in place to make you fit into the system.” The pressure to follow those around her into traditional hands-on careers was felt when she realised she wanted to be an artist. “Everyone has jobs like farmers—very practical, so to be someone whose job it is to dream or reach for your dreams is actually not that common because of survival mode. In order to survive we have to work in jobs that we don’t necessarily love.” She initially got into nursing because she wanted to use her natural empathy and desire to connect with others. While working at a cancer hospital, Owens was encouraged by patients to pursue her real dream of making music. “It was the greatest gift at the age of 18, to have people close to death telling you what they regret the most in life. It’s always the things they didn’t try or didn’t say—not what they did try and fuck up. They said to me, ‘You’re really good at this but what do you really want to do?’ I said make music. And they were like, ‘Trust us—go and do it.’” After a decade of working in record stores and getting an alternative musical education in London, Owens eventually got into a studio where synths were being used. It was love at first sight. “The humanity in analogue synths,” she exclaims. “If you don’t put your soul into it, there won’t be any soul—they’re an extension of yourself. Everything clicked for me—I weirdly became obsessed with the sounds. They were obviously very repetitive and allowed you to transcend.” Despite previously being interested in indie and pop, techno suddenly made sense to her. The way she uses equipment to create her unique electronic sound was, and still is, emotionally intuitive. “When you’re not taught by someone or classically trained, you don’t have to colour within any specific lines—there are no limitations when I create.” Está atualmente em #4.353 no ranking global do BookedDJ. O booking é feito por 3D Agency.
