Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith shares "Arthropoda" ahead of tour with Animal Collective

Experimental composer Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith announced her new full-length, EARS, earlier today. The Washington native constructed much of the new record on the Buchla Music Easel, asserting in the press release that the synthesizer “has the most human sound in it.” Smith tasked herself with showing the instrument's “versatility and range of motion,” and she does so convincingly on “Arthropoda,” the single she shared in conjunction with the announcement.

The track opens with the subaqueous puffs and snarls of her arthropods, tussling noisily in the shallows. An ascending two-note motif builds atop the din until settling into Smith’s witting vocal. Her voice, used initially as another rhythmic construct, soon assumes a melodic role, repeating a single phrase with Julia Holter-like whimsy.

Smith melds Holter’s experimental song structures with the bubbly mélange of Animal Collective; you may recognize her distinct carbonated scuttles from Panda Bear’s “Boys Latin” – a track to which she contributed sound design. In “Arthropoda,” Smith gives us a sneak peek into her sumptuously original, new-age realm, rife with the elven brood of a woodland swamp and all the motion that creeps within it.

EARS arrives April 1 via Western Vinyl – check out her tour with Animal Collective below:

Thurs Apr 28 || Fayetteville, AR || George’s Majestic Lounge || *
Fri Apr 29-Sun May 1 || Austin, TX || Levitation ||
Sun May 1 || Tulsa, OK || Cains Ballroom || *
Tues May 3 || St. Louis, MO || The Pageant || *
Wed May 4 || Royal Oak, MI || Royal Oak Music Theatre || *
Fri May 6 || Nashville, TN || Marathon Music Works || *
Sat May 7 || Atlanta, GA || Buckhead Theatre || *
Sun May 8 || Asheville, NC || Orange Peel || *
Tues May 10 || Washington, DC || 9:30 Club || *
Fri May 13 || Wilmington, DE || World Café Live at the Queen || *
Sat May 14 || Sayreville, NJ || Starland Ballroom || *