I Could Be Your Dog / I Could Be Your Moon

Album review

It's remarkable that synth wizard Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith has yet to score any feature films. While she has—like her Buchla synthesizer mentor Suzanne Ciani—done work for commercials and other commissioned work, Smith has clearly preferred to maintain her creative autonomy when it comes to music making. That preference is understandable, given her highly idiosyncratic and spiritual approach to her music. So it's somewhat surprising that Smith's latest release is not only a collaboration, but one with with Emile Mosseri, best known for scoring films like Minari and Kajillionaire. Even more surprising: the result manages to speak to both artists' strengths while creating a sound that's unique to each of their discographies. Throughout, I Could Be pushes well past the spiritualist/new age themes that have dominated Smith's recent work and instead moves into something a little more humanistic and, occasionally, more lyrical. While there's very little in the way of meditative chanting here, there are vocals on about a third of the tracks, both of the "wordless ambience" type and (shockingly) of the "here are some largely intelligible lyrics presented melodically" type. This doesn't feel like a "music for yoga" record like Smith's last couple of releases did; however, neither does it sound like a continuation of the pop-curious sounds of her 2017 album, The Kid.  Smith's trademark synth-playing is not as foregrounded here as one may expect; instead, it is folded into a richly complex electronic tapestry that speaks to Mosseri's approach.  For example, a cut like "Moon in Your Eye" manages to be both squelchy and atmospheric, with Smith's vocal glossolalia providing an organic counterpoint to her bubbling Buchla and Mosseri's expansive compositional approach.  It's not exactly a love song, but it's not really not a love song either. Likewise, "Green to You" evokes M83 with its melodic synth lines and highly treated vocals nestled in some sort of twilight ambiance, giving the listener a well-drawn mood that's highly evocative but also quite unspecific. There are, as one would expect, a handful of tracks that evince Smith's playful, humanistic approach—"Glendora" sounds like some kind of a digitized fairytale land—but they are the exception here. Instead, the overall approach is more impressionistic while still being positive and welcoming.  © Jason Ferguson/Qobuz