Kid Smpl is the alias of 22-year-old Seattle producer Joey Butler. A veteran of stage and studio, Butler has been busy developing a style of atmospheric bass music that continues to deepen with each release. His sound incorporates lush synths, meditative low-end, muffled vocal samples, and warm textural field recordings, punctuated by drums that straddle all parts of the tempo spectrum. The sounds are spread across a canvas made wide with breathing room. Briefly put, it evokes the introspection of a far-flung space colony’s forest terrarium, late into the evening, alone or with close company.

Kid Smpl – But I Don’t by Hush Hush Records

Summer 2012 has proved pivotal for Butler. Things began auspiciously with his induction to the 2013 Red Bull Music Academy. He then unveiled the Escape Pod EP, the inaugural release on nocturnally-inclined Hush Hush Records, a newly-conceived label run by KEXP DJ Alex Ruder. The EP material was morphed into exciting new territory courtesy of an international roster of fellow up-and-coming artists on the subsequent remix collection Dope Pac SE. The busy season wrapped up with a pair of hotly-tipped, heart-breaking bootleg remixes of Lianne La Havas and Jhene Aiko, and two performances at the 2012 Decibel Festival, including a packed live set for the Beat Prodigies Showcase.

With the fall season and its increasingly darker days upon us, Kid Smpl is now ready to put his unique vision on full display with his debut album Skylight. From the opening tones of “Distanced,” Skylight presents itself as a complete immersion into an emotional spectrum rarely captured in electronic music, a beautifully woven landscape of hazy futuristic melancholy. Otherworldly yet grounded, spacious yet busy, dark yet hopeful, Skylight is primed to deliver the full Kid Smpl experience to expectant audiences worldwide.