Ambient with a purpose

Every record has a purpose. Whether that be to communicate an emotion, to bleed out a trauma, to delight or simply to make money, no art is created without at least some sort of end goal. Often the meaning can be found by delving into the work as a whole (or at least by reading think pieces by those with more time on their hands or more brain cells in their head), but on rare occasions, a record will wear its purpose on its sleeve. Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith’s latest offering Tides: Music for Yoga and Meditation is one such record, it’s pretty plainly an ambient record intended to, well…. help with meditation and yoga. Purpose-wise, the record largely succeeds, and as a standalone piece of art, it holds its own as well.

At the jump, this album seems as though it may be in direct conflict with its stated purpose. “Tides I” often asks you to ignore jutting sounds, undercutting its mission statement. And perhaps it was just this specific file received, but even on half volume, this record was jarringly loud in headphones. However, this only persists for the first two tracks, and by “Tides III” the record has become a slow lull. Smith does an excellent job keeping the sounds varied enough to remain interesting, while letting it happen slowly enough that one could meditate or perform yoga to it. By and large, these shuffling sounds give you different things to lock into, be it the humming drone of a synth, the piercing sound of what appears to be a Casio or the washing static that punctuates the edges of the track, allowing it to pull you deeper into a trance.

While the intended purpose of the album is plain, the reasoning as to “why” Smith would wish to create a record like this is less apparent. It can be inferred from the title that this is either a personal project, something Smith created to enhance her own life and practices of yoga and meditation, or she’s a devotee of Brian Eno and his landmark ambient record Ambient 1: Music for Airports. The second theory holds more water as you crawl further down the record and note refrains and reprisals of Brian Eno’s work, particularly in the end section of “Tides VI” (the best track of the album) which recalls the end of Eno’s “The Big Ship” from his excellent Another Green World. While the answer may not be known, simply knowing that there is either passion or inspiration present goes a long way in turning this album from a curiosity to a worthy work of art.