Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith shares new song & video “Urges” + new LP ‘GUSH’ out August 22!

Today, influential electronic artist, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith shares the new song & video, “Urges,” from her forthcoming album GUSH, out August 22nd via Nettwerk. “This was the first song I wrote on the album, and it created the album theme,” says Kaitlyn. On GUSH, she leans into dancefloor-ready rhythms and the sensuality of everyday encounters—drawing inspiration from her synesthesia built around tactile connection, personified objects, and what Kaitlyn calls “the third thing”—the intimate energy created when two things meet.

“The word objectification has different meanings. That sense of degrading things is so common, but it could also mean representing an idea with a concrete object,” Kaitlyn explains. “I’ve always personified objects, and accessing that second definition helped me understand and follow the synesthetic urges I was feeling.” The seductive “Urges” places listeners in that moment. A wordless vocal call stretched and shifted into a sort of pseudo-soul sample. The omnipresent bass thump is here pulled into a whirling steam shower, as Smith’s breathy lead vocal hits just off the downbeat to send an ASMR shiver down the spine.

Kaitlyn also shares an accompanying music video for “Urges.” It was directed, choreographed, and performed by Kaitlyn, with additional movement performed by Destefano Deluise. The faceless dancers and subtle movements mirror the video for “What’s Between Us,” released in February, establishing a cohesive visual style around her new album. 

WATCH & SHARE KAITLYN AURELIA SMITH “URGES”
OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO HERE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX8sOV9uMeI

After an incredible and immersive performance at the Polygon Festival in London, Kaitlyn is set to make more festival appearances this summer, including the Edinburgh International Festival in Scotland and the We Out Here Festival in Wimborne, UK. Later this year, she’ll appear at the Pitchfork Music Festival London alongside Marie Davidson and RIP MAGIC, and the digital arts and music festival, MIRA 2025, in Spain alongside Floating Points, Erika de Cesar, Oneohtrix Point Never, and more.  Find the dates below and for more information visit: https://kaitlynaureliasmith.com/

ABOUT KAITLYN AURELIA SMITH:

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith is a classically trained American composer, performer, and producer from the Pacific Northwest. Her music is a form of auditory interpretation powered by curiosity and her toolkit of modular, analog, and rare synthesizers (including her signature Buchla), orchestral textures, and voice. Since her first self-release in 2012 (Tides), she has explored the endless possibilities of electronic instruments and the relationship between sound, shape, color, body movement, and expression. On her forthcoming full-length, GUSH, Kaitlyn sets her sights on aesthetics, focusing on the heightened awareness of and presence in the world, where every interaction, whether with people, objects, or nature—has the potential to become a moment of connection and personification. 

In her own words:

Gush – is about those “Look at this” moments…

shared between people…

It is about flirtation with objects and the environment…

It is about sensuality and personification…

It is about synesthesia and surrendering to those moments when the senses melt together…

It is about “ the third thing” that is created when 2 things come together…

It is about the way the human form is in service of…

It is about experiencing the genius of everything…                  –KAS

Kaitlyn finds wild, rippling inspiration in tactile moments, partly due to her abiding appreciation of aesthetics (a philosophical approach to the principles of beauty) and, in part, to her synesthesia. “Where some people mix things like color and taste, I get physical urges in correlation to sound,” she says. On GUSH, Smith conveys that experience in a newly direct density and intensity, finding flirtatious meaning in dimensions and structures, emotional resonance in the personification of well-loved objects. By focusing on the metaphysical aura that surrounds that attraction rather than the thing itself, GUSH finds a hypnagogic caress in the profundity of any given second.

Throughout her career, Kaitlyn has been celebrated for embracing her urges, whether towards experimental production, Buchla synth mastery, or exploring the intersection of sound, voice, body, and form. She’s performed alongside artists like Hot Chip, Glass Beams, RY X, Caribou, and Four Tet, and composed original works for Apple, BBC Orchestra, Adult Swim, MoMA, Red Bull, and others. Kaitlyn’s song “Stratus” was also synced in the 2023 film Priscilla Motion Picture Soundtrack.