Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Reims Cartonerie, 26 March 2016
Background information
Born	Orcas Island, United States
Genres	Electronica
Occupation(s)	Composer, producer, musician
Instruments	Keyboard, voice
Labels	Western Vinyl
Website	kaitlynaureliasmith.com

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith is an American composer, performer and producer, originally from Orcas Island and currently based in Los Angeles. After several self-released albums, Smith was signed to independent record label Western Vinyl in 2015, who released her first official album, Euclid, in January 2015. Her latest album, Ears, was released in April 2016.

Smith grew up and was home-educated on Orcas Island, Northwestern Washington. She left the island to study composition and sound engineering at Berklee College of Music in Boston, before returning to the island after her graduation.

It was after returning home that Smith discovered synthesizers, when a neighbor introduced her to the Buchla 100 Synthesizer. Having originally intended to use her voice as her primary instrument, and then moving to classical guitar and piano, Smith switched to the use of synthesizer after being lent and experimenting with the Buchla 100 for a year.

Smith formed indie-folk band Ever Isles whilst still at Berklee but left the project after discovering the Buchla 100, explaining, "I got so distracted and enamored with the process of making sounds with [the Buchla's potential] that I abandoned the next Ever Isles album".

When developing her composition skills, Smith used visual aid as inspiration for her music. She has said that she is always composing to a visual in her head, explaining, "Sometimes I let the sound create the image for me and then I build off that. Or vice versa: I come up with imagery that is inspiring to me, or I see something that is inspiring, and then create sounds that I feel match it".

Ears is Smith's fifth studio album and the second to be released by independent record label Western Vinyl. It was released on 1 April 2016.

Ears was composed, recorded, arranged, produced and mixed by Smith. The record was mastered by Simon Heyworth.

Instrumentation in the form of flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, alto saxophone and tenor saxophone were used in the recording of the LP, their parts being composed by Smith and performed by Rob Frye. Smith plays the Buchla Music Easel, EMS Synthi, ARP 2600, Oscar, Korg Mono/Poly, Electrocomp 101, and the Moog Werkstatt, as well as incorporating the use of her own voice.