Kelly Lee Owens created the new track “Let It Go” as fodder for a recent set at London’s Fabric nightclub, and it’s not hard to imagine it going over like gangbusters: Layering beckoning whispers over a pile-driving bass pulse, the peak-time cut strikes a clever balance of soft and hard, just the thing for guiding clubbers into the maelstrom of the early morning. But another song she released alongside it is a lot subtler, and maybe more interesting, too.
Where “Let It Go” aims straight down the middle, “Omen” slinks around the murkiest corners of the club. It rides atop a dubbed-out electro groove that’s all shadows and spiderwebs, with a kick drum so muted that it seems to float, ghostlike, a foot above the ground. Minor-key synth squiggles and moody bass riffs evoke the goosebump-inducing sound of early-1990s bleep techno, skeletal and sere. Like many of the best moments of Owens’ self-titled debut album, it injects dance-music convention with a heavy dose of mystery.
