Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith
's first
Ghostly International
release,
The Mosaic of Transformation
, was inspired by electricity, and its relationship to the energy of the human body. The composer began a daily practice in which she would pass electricity through her body, setting it into motion. These improvisatory movements, which changed from day to day, fed into the creation of the album, an ever-shifting, multi-sensory mass of bubbling synths and cascading vocal arrangements. The record doesn't feel as structured and focused as
The Kid
,
Smith
's new age pop opus from 2017, but it's meant to be amorphous and fluid, and it follows its own current. Appearing after the release of an album
composed for the purposes of yoga,
Mosaic
has a similarly meditative flow, but with much more expansive arrangements. On "Remembering," tones similar to pipe organs and strings materialize, gradually leading to a mantra-like repetition: "Be kind to one another, we're coming together."
's voice stretches a bit, so she could also be saying "We're calming together," and her voice is layered and stereo-separated to entrancing effect. "The Steady Heart" is a busy, curious arrangement of snaking woodwind synths and ethereal vocals, springing forth several simultaneous thoughts, and pushed forward by a tricky beat tempo. "The Spine Is Quiet in the Center" also places sporadic beats within its trickling streams of synth textures and playful melodic hints. "Expanding Electricity," the ambitious ten-minute suite that concludes the album, is a complex tapestry of wooden percussion tones, upward-surging arpeggios, and heavenly vocals expressing a joyous flow of warmth and energy. ~ Paul Simpson