Kelly Lee Owens ‘Corner Of My Sky’ – Video Review

After recent tracks ‘Oh’, ‘Night’ and ‘Melt!’ from Kelly Lee Owens’ critically acclaimed second album ‘Inner Song’ released on Smalltown Supersound, comes her next magical video - ‘Corner Of My Sky’ official video was released on 23.09.20. The track features the legendary pre and post-punk

producer John Cale whose spoken word beautifully accompanies a bouncing score, narrating an impending scene of weather and nature – thanking god for the rain through his signature accented
baritone vocals breaking out through welsh language.

The video features bread, and lots of it. A mystical toaster denies the main protagonist, actor Michael Sheen, a pre-dinner snack. The sight of vanishing slices allows him to ascend into a mesmerising world of toast-centric madness. Cut to scenes of rural welsh life, wide coastal shots, run down residential areas, decaying statues, all dotted with a single stark slice of white loaf. An ethereal red dress-draped porcelain skinned woman strides down the beach overlooking a random piece of toast, the woman is nonother than Kelly Lee Owens herself. The bright red Balenciaga dress contrasts the bleak barren beach she nonchalantly strolls across. In the closing scene of the video, normality is restored when Kelly stands with Michael in a kitchen next to the troublesome toaster, nonchalantly chomping on, yes, you guessed it, toast.

Watch the video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKGbveD_cuE

This video presents sheer bewilderment within a most domestic setting. It encourages the viewer to play in the middle ground between the worlds in your head and reality, even when reality is your kitchen. Halfway through the video, a dreary DPS-esque uniformed delivery man arrives at Michael’s front door to drop off a package. Of course, without hesitation, in an attempt to check his own sanity, the parcel bringer is asked by Michael to “come and have a look at something”, to check the toaster. 

The passive, indifference of the delivery man is an apt metaphor for the inability for those from the mass ‘corporate’ world to understand and ‘feel’ unexplainable moments of mystical wonder. Or maybe he just wants to get away from the bearded delusional man with a dodgy 2-slicer. Shot in the Brecon Beacons region of South Wales by production company Object Animal, the video is directed by Norwegian director, Kasper Häggström, who worked with Kelly on her last few videos including “Throwing Lines” and “On”. It seems fellow Welsh talent and video co-star, Michael Sheen, has also been a fan of Owens’ work for some time, recently quoting “I’ve loved Kelly’s music for a while now and the opportunity to be part of a Kelly-John Cale-magic toaster holy Welsh trinity was too good to miss!”.

In response to how the collaboration came about, Kelly told NME “I knew I wanted a visual for ‘Color of My Sky’ and having been connected to Michael Sheen earlier in the year, I dared asked if he would like to be involved. Luckily he said yes! In Wales we live by the sentiment that ‘If you don’t ask, you don’t get.’ And so a true welsh collaboration in the form of John Cale, Michael and I was formed.”

I’m so glad the collab happened and this video was made, be warned though, you’ll never look at
your humble toaster the same way again!

Joey Lee 

@joeyyy_lee