Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith composes her swirling, colorful electronic songs on Buchla synthesizers, particularly the portable, user-friendly Music Easel. Her warm, vibrant music inevitably recalls the work of Buchla masters such as
Suzanne Ciani and
Laurie Spiegel, but it's playful and exuberant enough to land her opening gigs for
Dan Deacon and
Animal Collective. It's bubbly and tranquil enough to elicit comparisons to 21st century underground synthesizer artists such as
Panabrite or
Dolphins into the Future, but
Smith's music is still a bit too hyperactive to really label ambient or new age, even though it generally doesn't include drums. She allows the oscillating electronic tones to ebb and flow like waves, and they have fluid, natural rhythms rather than quantized beat structures.
Ears features a greater presence of
Smith's warped vocals than on 2015's
Euclid, and more often than not, they seem to speak a subconscious alien language rather than recognizable English words. The album also benefits from the added presence of woodwind arrangements, which give the music somewhat of a floral texture. While
Euclid sounded bright and freewheeling enough to soundtrack a fun, cartoonish video game,
Ears has a slightly darker and more mysterious tone, but not enough to make it seem menacing or off-putting. Opener "First Flight" includes rapid arpeggios that seem to flow like water rushing through a stream, constantly splashing up onto the shore. "Rare Things Grow" sounds like it could've been recorded in a rain forest, with wet, flowing sounds, thumb pianos, and fluttering woodwinds pleasantly swaying over a detached rhythm that strangely resembles
Autechre's "Basscadet." Most of the album's selections clock in between three and five minutes, but finale "Existence in the Unfurling" stretches out to 11, beginning with
Smith's calm, wondrous vocals and ending with an extended passage where synthesizers and woodwinds excitedly duet with each other. Focused without sounding rigid or confined,
Ears is imaginative and alive. ~ Paul Simpson