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Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - EARS

    • Label /
      Western Vinyl
      WV145
    • Released /
      April 2016
    • Style /
      Ambient, Experimental
    • Comments /
      9 / View
    • Rating /
      4.1/5
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    Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - EARS Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - EARS
    Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - EARS Though known for otherworldly bleeps and bloops, the revered Buchla synthesizer has its roots in '60s hippie Americana. Don Buchla formed the company in 1963, nestled in a Berkeley, CA, community focused on mind expansion. Instruments like his colorful Music Easel were the invention of "acid eaters" with roots in "new age lifestyles and the reinvention of art and music," to quote Andy Votel's Finders Keepers label. They're referring to a 1975 demonstration by one-time Buchla employee Suzanne Ciani, a mentor of LA-based composer, musician and singer Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith. Though she cites Ciani (who she worked with while living in the Bay Area), Terry Riley and Laurie Spiegel as influences, Smith's third album, EARS, taps into a mix of Buchla and traditional orchestration that feels closer to Aaron Copland's pivotal Appalachian Spring. As in that piece, a dedication to the mystique of nature permeates this music.

    EARS starts slowly. On opener "First Flight," Smith runs an ascending pattern on the Buchla while an array of strings and woodwinds warm up. It's the aural equivalent of waking in a forest: first birdsong, then the rustle of small animals in the bushes. Smith breaks up the reverie with some chanted vocals, sung in no discernible language. It sounds like an appeal to the ancestors of the forest island in Washington State where she was raised. "First Flight" sets the tone for the rest of the album. While previous records have been more impressionistic (Tides) or comparable to indie chamber-pop (Euclid), EARS combines modular texture, deft orchestration and alien vocals into one tidy package. It's an impressive feat by any standard.

    At times, Smith's populist disposition aligns her music with indie giants like, say, Grizzly Bear—the difference here is that the burbling Buchla subverts an obvious knack for traditional songcraft. It might be Smith's greatest accomplishment. Rather than submit to the abstractions the instrument's been known for since Morton Subotnick's Silver Apples Of The Moon, she refuses to allow the medium to determine the message. EARS is drawn to Ciani's intense and, as Smith has suggested, distinctly feminine melodic approach.

    Smith's methodology reaches its peak on the album's most freeform cut, "When I Try, I'm Full." This subdued piece contains the wildest Buchla process on the album, a complex, babbling brook of an arpeggio. Rather than normalizing it with voice and sax, she allows those elements to chase the maddening synth, carving their own wild patterns like a school of fish in the sun. Smith has expressed an interest in scoring for film, and like her mentor, she seems comfortable bringing weird instruments and ideas to the mainstream. And why not? On EARS, Smith emerges as a novel, naturalistic and, yes, pop-savvy voice wielding an instrument known for esoteric experimentalism.
    • Published /
      Wed / 13 Apr 2016
    • Words /
      Matt McDermott
    • Share
    • Tracklist /
      01. First Flight
      02. Wetlands
      03. Envelop
      04. When I Try, I’m Full
      05. Rare Things Grow
      06. Arthropoda
      07. Stratus
      08. Existence In The Unfurling
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    News

    • Tue, 27 Nov 2018

      4 comments

      Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith to release Tides, an album of music for meditation and yoga

      She recorded it with her Buchla modular synth in 2013 to accompany her mother's yoga sessions.

    • Wed, 11 Jul 2018

      Post a comment

      Tashi Wada collaborates with his father, Yoshi Wada of Fluxus, on RVNG's next FRWKYS release

      The Wadas worked with an ensemble featuring Julia Holter, Cole MGN and Corey Fogel for the September record.

    • Tue, 13 Mar 2018

      1 comments

      Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith launches multidisciplinary label, Touchtheplants

      It starts with a release from the artist herself—an original soundtrack for a Harry Everett Smith silent film—due out next week.

    • Wed, 06 Dec 2017

      14 comments

      Moogfest reveals first names for 2018, emphasizing female, transgender and non-binary artists

      Ellen Allien, Midori Takada, Miss Honey Dijon and Chelsea Manning feature on the initial announcement for the US festival.

    • Wed, 18 Oct 2017

      1 comments

      Tulum festival Comunité announces 2018 lineup

      James Holden's band The Animal Spirits is booked alongside Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Rhadoo and Lawrence for the January event.

    • Tue, 11 Jul 2017

      6 comments

      Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith reveals new album, The Kid

      It's out in October via Western Vinyl.

    • Sat, 03 Jun 2017

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      Brian Eno, Flying Lotus and Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith to release Adult Swim Singles

      The popular TV block will stream an exclusive track each week this year.

    • Tue, 16 May 2017

      4 comments

      Max Richter compiles Rough Trade's new series, Behind The Counter

      The triple vinyl and double CD compilation features music from Aphex Twin, Boards Of Canada, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith and classical compositions from Bach, Rachmaninoff and Handel.

    Reviews

    • Post a comment

      Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - Tides: Music for Meditation And Yoga

    • 6 comments

      Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - The Kid

    • 7 comments

      Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith & Suzanne Ciani - FRKWYS Vol. 13: Sunergy

    • 9 comments

      Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - EARS

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