Gush

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith took a major stylistic leap with Lets Turn It Into Sound, an extremely playful progressive pop album which still maintained some of the soothing textures of her more new age-like material. She then headed into more danceable territory, releasing a Whitney Houston cover and collaborating with Hot Chips Joe Goddard on the EP Neptunes. GUSH is her first album on Nettwerk, and it feels like a more streamlined version of her take on pop music. It seems like her songs have more repetitive hooks and direct lyrics than they did before. Her voice is still cloaked in effects which give it a supernatural tone, and shes evolved as a beatmaker, constructing tricky rhythms which guide the songs along, only stepping out in front on a few occasions. The songs themselves are about shared experiences, focusing on the sensuality of the moments when senses merge. The title track expresses fascination and curiosity, bouncing along to a triplet beat as Smith repeats "I like the way you see things/I like the way you think about it," with pitched-up fragments and bubbly melodies dancing around her lead vocals. "Stare Into Me" is a more reserved downtempo R&B tune, but things get much more gleeful with "Whats Between Us," which opens with blippy, chiptune-like melodies and punchy beats, shooting for an ecstatic feeling. The exuberant "Feel Heard" celebrates the joy of making a connection and being understood, and the vivid "Both" approaches a sensual overload, as its lyrics eliminate the need for choice and embrace two things at once. "Almost" surprisingly pulls back, lamenting a meeting that didnt actually happen, but then "The World Just Got a Little More Big" plunges back into a playful spirit, bursting with cartwheeling synths. The last two tracks are closer to brief, in-the-moment sketches, with "In the Dressing Room" being nothing more than a cartoonish synth doodle. ~ Paul Simpson