Courtesy of Chantal Anderson.
Composer, performer and producer [Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith](https://kaitlynaureliasmith.com) has collaborated with Academy Award-nominated composer [Emile Mosseri](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emile_Mosseri) on their debut project [_I Could Be Your Dog (Prequel)_](https://ghostly.ffm.to/kas-i-could-be-your-dog-prequel), out on September 15th. The seven-track album marks the first installment of the project, which the pair began working on remotely during the pandemic.
Smith and Mosseri met months prior to the start of quarantine, after discovering that they were actually neighbors. Both had been admirers of each other's music, but a collaborative partnership wasn’t born until Smith moved away. The pair began connecting and exchanging music virtually, a practice which eventually led to their first song, [“Log In Your Fire.”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEAVcrBjzjQ)
The debut single was released last month with a dream-like visual depicting the anxiety of losing the one you love. The video was directed by [Chantal Anderson](https://chantalanderson.com). The album’s release coincides with the drop of another Anderson-directed visual. This time, a hauntingly beautiful video for the project’s second single [“Moon In Your Eye.”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyU18da0BMs)
The second installment of the project, entitled _I Could Be Your Dog (Sequel),_ is expected in 2022.
_Flaunt_ caught up with Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith and Emile Mosseri to learn more about making the project during COVID.
**Emile, you’ve had a strong showing for 2021, landing an Academy Award nomination for the Minari soundtrack. How has composing changed for you during this time?**
**Emile:** 2021 was a strange year that way. Spent a lot of time in 2019 /2020 writing for films and chasing deadlines right up until the pandemic started, and spent 2021, as we all did, in isolation, I was composing by myself in my studio, without sharing a physical space with any musicians or directors. Meeting and collaborating with Kaitlyn in this time was a bit of a vibe replenisher and creative life force really. Was nice to be in isolation but have another artist's mind to bounce ideas off of and have all this new music be shaped by that exchange.
**Why release the project in cycles? What does each cycle mean to you?**
**E:** We wrote each cycle of this record at a different time during the pandemic. Each cycle has its own feeling and special vibe to it. The first cycle was the very first music we had written together and sort of took on this colorful exchange of energy. It felt brighter and more immediate and charged in that way, it was kind of the opening part of the conversation of our new friendship. The second cycle we created after knowing and working with one another for a while, so it took on a different energy all together. I think we were able to settle into a different vibe, feels more blue and green to me. Feels both more comfortable and more adventurous in a way, since we had learned one anothers musical language at bit by that point. More than anything it feels different because we were in a different stage in the pandemic, in our creative relationship and in our lives. It’s nice to have the music catalog those different times in the pandemic, otherwise that whole time frame could feel like a wash or a blur.
**Many of the tracks on this album sound dream-like and airy, what were some of the themes of the project when it came to choosing a sound?**
**E:** I think a lot of that is a testament to the dreamlike quality of Kaitlyns music. She’s a very cinematic and visual composer. There’s something impressionistic about the sonic beds that she creates. It feels connected to the earth and to nature and her music feels both tangible and airy in that way, like dreamlike portraits. And that’s how a lot of these pieces started, with sonic beds that she weaved together. A lot of the time these beds would unlock melodies and lyrics for me, and I 'd send back the melodies that I felt like her pieces implied and she’d react to those and send more back to me and so on and so on. Was a joyous process of musically reacting to the instincts of a new friend.
**Kaitlyn, how would you characterize the experience of working on an album remotely?**
**Kaitlyn:** I heard in a podcast that the experience of Awe can be really effective at relieving stress during times of extreme stress. The experience of awe is usually accompanied with surrendering to the unknown and extreme stress is usually accompanied with lots of unknowns. Collaborating with Emile has been a continuous experience of awe for me. Every time I would send him music and he would send me melodies he wrote over the music or vice versa, I experienced a piece of music totally transform by additions of music we couldn’t access on our own.
**How was working with Emile during the pandemic?**
**K**: “Two things come together to make a third thing“ - Poet Rob Moss Wilson. So much of the music Emile and I wrote together during the pandemic has the theme of surrender. I think Surrender was the medicine we both needed during the pandemic and were able to help each other with.
**Tell us a little about the inspiration behind “Log In Your Fire.” What message did you ultimately strive to convey through the song?**
**K**: Emile wrote a great quote about the message behind “Log In Your Fire.” “‘Log In Your Fire’ was the first track we made together that birthed this whole body of music. We set out to make a song together and then it sorta caught fire and turned into a whole record. Looking back on it, what a cool and fitting title for the first one, it felt like that first log. Also that song started with this beautiful sonic bed that Kaitlyn sent over that sounded like these synths breathing in harmony. There were all these melodies and lyrics that I heard that felt implied by the initial piece she sent. That's one of the things that was so special about this collaboration, it felt like we were writing music through one another. Also, it came at a time when we were in the belly of the beast of this pandemic, and we had made this new friendship with one another for a few weeks before Kaitlyn left LA, so writing music was the natural way for our friendship to continue and develop. It was such a replenishing and beautiful way to communicate with a new soul in such a strange and isolating time.”
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