Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith

The follow-up to her 2016 breakthrough, ‘Ears’ (which is continuing to work its seemingly endless magic on us), is another multi-layered avant-garde sound design masterpiece that fans of Julia Holter, Holly Herndon & Fever Ray/The Knife will relish.

There is playfulness here but it's elevated by an undertone of gravity into something compelling & majestic that is fast becoming Smith's watermark - epiphanic climbing strings, noisy textures, low end pulses, choral vocal layering & verdant orchestral moments. Rich worlds of synthesized sound born from deep reverence of the natural world (Smith cites naturalist David Attenborough as a contemporary muse), ‘The Kid’ chronicles four defining cognitive & emotional stages of the human lifespan. Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith belongs to an ilk of modern musicians who are defined by their commitment to creating experiential albums despite the singles-oriented shuffle-habits of modern listeners & here she represents her kind proudly.