This is Video of the Week from Wales Arts Review. We’ll be showcasing some of the best art in Wales with a new video shared every week. From music to drama and everything in between, videos will not be limited by medium. Today’s video is ‘Throwing Lines’ by Kelly Lee Owens.
We’re in the seventh week of our 100 Greatest Welsh Albums of All Time series and have now seen Bendith, Meic Stephens and Adwaith added to the list. For today’s video of the week, we’re taking a look at ‘Throwing Lines’ by Kelly Lee Owens, whose debut album features at 36 on our list.
The video for ‘Throwing Lines’ follows two young Scandinavian fans as they create a music video for Owens, because, as stated in the video, ‘Nobody turns down a free music video’.
As part of this week’s countdown, Caragh Medlicott wrote of Kelly Lee Owens’ album, Kelly Lee Owens:
‘Not all debuts are made equal – and this first solo outing from Kelly Lee Owens sits in the effervescent, higher realm of triumph and glory. A gorgeous, dream pop record suffused with Owens’ ethereal, cooing voice – her singing runs like a golden thread throughout the whole of this eponymous first record, the journey taking in in its scope everything from Tibetan singing bowls to strobe techno beats. The album more than likely owes its existence to Owens’ fateful meeting with Daniel Avery and Ghost Culture (James Greenwood) while working across a scattering of record stores. Certainly, the pair helped nurture Owens’ techno sensibilities and the trio’s collaborations have criss-crossed each other more than once since. Yet, showing confidence from the first, what’s remarkable about this record is Owens’ confidence in stamping her subaqueous soundscape with turns which are notably her own. Certainly, these aren’t tracks that demand fog on the dancefloor – though they hardly rule it out, either – instead it is the kinetic energy flowing throughout sequential tracks which keeps the listener engaged, Owens’ synth melodies and low-key techno beats like a silver stream burbling in the moonlight. With hindsight we might view this record as the first stepping stone in a career which, merely four years on, already feels formidable.’
Watch the video for ‘Throwing Lines’ below, and take a look at albums 40–31 of our 100 Greatest Welsh Albums of All Time countdown here.
Kelly Lee Owens’ self-titled debut album is available now.
