Speak to Field Day founder Tom Baker and he’ll tell you that the festival’s mission is to provide an ‘eclectic’ range of music for open-minded listeners. So with Field Day ready to kick off in Victoria Park on Saturday (June 3rd) we wanted to showcase one of the most startling and though-provoking artists on the bill – synthesizer ace Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith.
She won’t be the loudest or the flashiest. However, the Los Angeles resident has recently created one of the best albums of 2016 with her meditative duo recording Sunergy with fellow synthesizer devotee Suzanne Ciani on label RVNG Intl.
Her early days were equally chilled. She spent them communing with nature on Orcas Island off the coast of Washington state. After studying composition and sound engineering at Berklee College of Music, she was leant a Buchla 100 synthesizer by a neighbour. It prompted a complete re-evaluation of her music making.
Kaitlyn recalls: “I got so distracted and enamoured with the process of making sounds with it.” Starting with rhythmic patterns and melodic pulses, she soon began sculpting the lush and exciting worlds of sound that we enjoy today.
Ahead of her 1:30pm slot on the Resident Advisor stage, we asked Kaitlyn to document a day of her life in pictures. And here’s what she saw…
Woke up and looked at this drawing by my bed by Rob Moss Wilson
Did yoga and then had green tea and breakfast by the pond outside my house and made a list for the day
Went for a walk
Put on some Laraaji while I cleaned my house and got ready to go to the studio
Went through some emails in the living room
Went to the studio to work on some compositions
Took a break to play to some mbira and have lunch
Went for a hike with a friend
Made it to the top of the mountain
Went back to the studio to continue writing
Finished a patch on the modular
Packed for tour
Listen to this audio tape while practicing diaphragmatic breathing before bed.
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