Smith grew up and was home-educated on Orcas Island, Northwestern Washington.[3] She left the island to study composition and sound engineering at Berklee College of Music in Boston, before returning to the island after her graduation. Smith performed in the indie folk duo Ever Isles while still at Berklee.[4]
Buchla Music Easel synthesizer
It was after returning home that Smith discovered synthesizers, when a neighbor who shared her interest in Terry Riley introduced her to the Buchla 100 Synthesizer.[5] Having originally intended to use her voice as her primary instrument,[4] and then moving to classical guitar and piano, Smith switched to the use of synthesizer after being lent and experimenting with the Buchla 100 for a year,[3] explaining, "I got so distracted and enamored with the process of making sounds with [the Buchla's] that I abandoned the next Ever Isles album."[4] She also frequently uses the Buchla Music Easel.[6]
Smith contributed sound design work to the music video for Panda Bear's "Boys Latin" in 2014.[7] In 2015, she signed to independent record label Western Vinyl and released her first official album, Euclid. In 2016, she received acclaim for her 2016 album Ears and collaborated with synthesizer-based composer Suzanne Ciani on a RVNG Intl. release entitled Sunergy. Her album, The Mosaic of Transformation, was released in May 2020.[8]
Musical approach
Smith's music makes prominent use of Buchla synthesizers, specifically the Buchla 100 and Musical Easel. She stated that "there’s a lot of room for happy accidents with a Buchla synthesizer because it’s not very predictable. If you turn on a light in the room that you’re working in or if the grounding isn’t properly grounded or if you plug in something else, all of a sudden something will change. That gives me this feeling of working with a life, and that there is a biofeedback, more so than a predictable synthesizer."[9] She has stated that "I try and blend in as many different tones / timbres as possible […] I like to imagine what that sound would feel like if I were to touch it and vice versa."[10]
