Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith – An Intention

On last year’s debut album ‘EARS’, producer Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith demonstrated a knack for making electronic music sound like the most organic and natural thing in the world; it’s little surprise that she cites the legendary David Attenborough as an influence on her work. Little more than a year and a couple of months on and she’s readying a second LP, ‘The Kid’, which is due out on Western Vinyl on 6th October.

With it, she’s lost none of her ambition. The record is set to span four cognitive and emotional stages of the human lifespan across a quartet of sides covering two LPs, covering the unaware beginnings of a newborn, the increased self-awareness of early youth, the process of being firm in one’s identity and the wisdom and peace that often only comes in later life. Its lead single, ‘An Intention’, comes early in the album’s sprawling cycle, sitting within that sphere of being like a very young child.

As such, there’s a sense of innocence to ‘An Intention’ that captures that sense of blissful ignorance one has about the world at the very beginning of their life. It’s an often calm and ambient tune, punctuated by Kaitlyn’s own voice, which for the most part ethereally drifts along. But just like a child experiencing new sensations and often confusing emotions for the first time, the music sometimes swells, becoming more distorted and glitch-ridden in the process. Even Kaitlyn’s voice, as she intones “ahhs”, sits somewhat uncomfortably between pleasure and pain, unsure of really how to process the feelings that are coming over her.

Its climax descends into unfiltered noise, seemingly capturing the loss of innocence as the child reaches another developmental stage. As an aural representation of what it’s like to become aware of your surroundings, Kaitlyn has pretty much nailed it.