Drifter marks the beginning of Another Timbre’s Canadian Composers Series, assembling ten pieces from Linda Catlin Smith dating from 1995 to 2015. The album is a crossroads of chamber color, poised restraint, and poetic clarity - performed by members of Apartment House and Montreal’s Quatuor Bozzini in a spirit of intimate collaboration. Smith’s writing privileges patient melody and delicate counterpoint, bridging tough compositional rigor with textures of shimmering mystery.

The double disc journeys through works for piano, strings, percussion, and guitar, from the luminous Cantelina for viola and vibraphone, through tightly knit piano quintets, to extended string quartets. The title work, Drifter, pairs piano and guitar in unequal ostinatos and gentle harmonic daubs, balancing lyric calm with playful unpredictability. Far from Shore and Ricecarextend Smith’s approach, highlighting the ensemble’s capacity for subtle dynamic layering and fragile interplay. In Mon Qui Tremblais, speech rhythms derived from a Rimbaud poem guide the performers, blending pulse-driven piano with sustained violin and pitched percussion for understated drama.​

The string quartets Folkestone and Gondola showcase Smith’s gift for narrative shape and harmonic invention. Folkestone unfolds in slow, persistent chords and high violin melodies, alluding to both accordion-like sonorities and deep, poignant solo passages. Gondola centers on undulating, boat-like rhythms - a gentle disturbance, trailing the hand in water. Throughout, Smith’s ear for color is boundless, her approach meticulous but warm.

Drifter invites listeners to linger; its chamber landscapes beg for close attention and reward that patience with luminous invention. The ensemble’s performances illuminate the tension between directness and nuance, letting each phrase breathe into silence. This album stands as a testament to Smith’s capacity to render the everyday extraordinary, shaping memory, emotion, and form into music that moves quietly but leaves a lasting imprint.