Transcendence is dance music’s emotional core. Escaping the limits of one’s physical self and reaching beyond the club’s sweat-flecked ceiling are the beating heart of this seasoned genre. Dance music lives and dies on whether it can induce an altered state; it’s a heady realm of fantasy and dreams that exists only until the house lights come on.
‘Dreamstate’ could serve as a gently poetic word to describe this blissful, if nebulous, experience. Welsh electronic auteur Kelly Lee Owens’ fourth album is a masterclass in bottling up this potent feeling: the emotionally charged and potentially life-changing experience of losing one’s self amidst scattered limbs and celestial lights.
Owens understands, with elegant acuity, that emotion is what makes this genre really tick. You’re supposed to feel bliss, ecstasy, wonder, love and giddy elation. Across ‘Dreamstate’’s ten miraculous tracks, these sensations bubble up from within your consciousness, tapping unknown wells buried deep within your being.
A clear thesis statement comes on ‘Higher’, where Owens’ layered voice intones “higher and higher I go, lifting you up, I feel it all”. It’s an echo of dance music’s history, its internal language of being “lifted” and “set free”, but also a cosmic dance; a William Blake-esque image of heavenly resplendence. Similar imagery recurs on ‘Dark Angel’, another sublime work that ventures to equal heights of arpeggiated bliss.
Owens’ immaculate production possesses the texture of light peeking through clouds. ‘Rise’’s layers of synths are wholly immersive, swirling around your head like last night’s half forgotten dreams. ‘Love You Got’ lands with more force, building to a thrilling crescendo that spins your head with lovelorn abandon.
The album culminates with its most uncharacteristic and beautiful track. The serene ‘Trust & Desire’ recalls the ambient work of Jon Hopkins as soft pianos and violins intermingle with subtle electronic embellishments. Owens’ voice speaks in clipped phrases: “chose me, so completely”, “know better, do better”. They’re hopeful aphorisms that, like the rest of ‘Dreamstate’, aim for glorious, stirring heights.
A complete and resounding success, ‘Dreamstate’ offers one of the most emotionally engrossing collections of electronic music you’ll hear this year. In a world that can feel increasingly murky, impenetrable and lightless, Kelly Lee Owens’ latest cuts through the mire with a lucid and masterful vision; its profound luminescence will set your soul soaring.
