Overview:
What’s Your First Name is a 9-song 49-minute instrumental album of rhythmic drums mixed with new combinations of classical and electronic instruments that effortlessly takes you on a journey through the sky.
It’s the debut release from Umnikoya, a new branch from the artistic genius of Esther Nicholson. A self-taught artist, she independently writes and produces her music to international audiences under the bands: Esther Nicholson (vocals), Spaghesther (classical piano), and now Umnikoya (“late night instrumental“).
Esther releases early versions and background about her artistic process on her Patreon, which meant that I really felt like I got to watch this album come together – and was eagerly awaiting the final release.
My excitement was so big that I finally decided to come back from blogger retirement to write this review: going through the album art, tracklist, and then overall thoughts.
Art:
Each song has a slightly different picture in the theme of laser car lights moving through night, made by long exposure photography by the artist herself:
“The pictures for this album were taken with my late Step-Dad on a passenger bridge. I have fond memories of holding the camera still on the cold railing and the fun it was to see what we had created after 30 second exposures.“
Esther say’s on Umnikoya’s instagram.
I think this is the perfect art to describe the feeling of listening to this album.
Pressing play on the first song, I find myself able to laser-focus and glide through whatever I am working on at the moment – including just moving to the music. Listening to it connects my inspiration to do something, with my mental dedication to get it done. Something about the art and the album makes me feel moved. Like being on a rocket made by Esther, I sit back and know it is going to take me to the far off places that only her musical imagination can reach.
Tracklist:
Metaformed
Get up! It’s time to stretch for what’s to come: move your neck from side to side, roll those shoulders. This upbeat song starts us off with the electronic speed that this album keeps pace with. I find this song is great at getting me to finally begin a difficult task, it’s like it says, “Hey, let me help you find the motivation to start the next step!”
Firework Smoke
Switching it up, we can already sense Umnikoya’s versatility with the soft entrance of the second song. I recommend listening to this as your husband plays Red Dead Redemption 2. It adds a smokiness to the drama of a cowboy off for revenge. Soak up the intricate melodies that are a staple of Umnikoya’s music, and feel the cinematic experience of her mood-setting songs.
Gradually, she builds up a beat that gets the horses running through a beautiful and haunting landscape of sound. She pulls out a richness in her electronic instruments by fading their volumes and circling them around your room like they were strings in an orchestra.
Dragon Quest
This has to be one of my favorite songs on the album, although I say that for each of them. It starts off in a complex melody that seams to be intersecting itself – then the drums bring in some order until, like birds, the notes swarm into sync.
It picks up speed at just the right pace – one of Esther’s great talents is laying out her songs to feel generous and immersive. After you’ve heard this song through once, you’ll get excited each time it comes on. It just goes to a whole new level as it progresses, and we can see where this album is going to take us: straight through the atmosphere and into space.
Mmm, excuse me while I just enjoy listening to this.
Cold LAser
Did someone open the window? This third song is a cool breeze.
“Listening to it and making it literally embodied a chill to me but at the same time it felt like the bass was trying desperately to warm up the song,”
Esther say’s on Umnikoya’s instagram.
Grab your space blankets and cuddle around the radiator because this one is a treat! A reminder of Esther’s classical piano skills (see also her work with Spaghester), Cold Laser is the cowgirl playing at a saloon on a spaceship through the galaxy (sorry my husband is still playing Red Dead). But seriously I feel like Faye Valentine would have a great scene to this.
Leave It on for a while
This one is your reminder that good music can be 6.5 minutes long, or even longer if we’re lucky! We have some background singing by Esther that perfectly accompanies the instrumentals to create a sense of drama. Then out of nowhere – a sick drum beat. The breakdowns are timed exactly for me to grab some water, because otherwise I would be too out of breath from the inevitable dancing that her music makes me do.
This song feels like the climatic end of an epic movie, one that I already feel I can watch without any visuals. What will you experience with this soundtrack? I want to find a 6 minute and 24 second hill to bike up to while listening to this, that’s the kind of energy it gives me.
In the Details
Okay, have you caught your breath again? Because now it’s time to run! This is what I’d have playing in my head if I could ever jump across rooftops. It’s just so damn cool.
This song has a variety of speed and noise levels that make it obvious that it was masterfully mastered. Nothing gets too loud and each note is clear, yet I feel it in my body. The diversity of instruments gives each listen through a new surprise – it’s really IN THE DETAILS.
Sad Optimism
I love this album’s choice of song titles. With instrumental music like this, the lyrics are in these words. The contradiction of the two emotions in this song are perfectly communicated by the combination of Esther’s classical piano playing with her electronic side. It reminds me of the unique depth of this artist, not only in musical genres and instrumental talent – but also in her ability to let her art be a representative of the contradictory emotions in our lives.
I didn’t know I knew what sad optimism felt like, until I heard this song.
Someday I will be forgotten completely
OKAY THIS TITLE THOUGH?!
Too real, Esther. It reminds me of “We’re All Going to Die.”
This is the second last song in the album and it is the ultimate journey. The first time I listened to this I couldn’t imagine where it was going. We start out hearing the noise of people and skateboards. It feels like a sidewalk beneath the sky train here in Vancouver.
Then music plays like someone is walking by with it on their speakers. The beat brings it closer until it is right beside us. It’s hopeful, like it’s saying, “Yes, you should chase that dream of yours!”
I can imagine Esther layering in each of these tracks on Reason 10 with her midi keyboard to create an entire world of sound. After years, she sure knows what she’s doing, and the result is this professional and powerful song.
The song has two endings, much like the act of chasing our dreams may seem to have many quiet parts, and unexpected restarts. But even if we may be forgotten completely, there is always another beginning somewhere. Esther picks the beat up again, just when you were missing it, for the reincarnation of this great song.
I mean just put it on repeat, man, better than coffee.
What’s Your First Name
The title of the album goes to this, the last song. We have arrived.
Our spaceship doors open to a misty moon. Crunch through the tundra, we’re heading towards the horizon. The beginning of this song paints a dark night sky for me, with each star glittering our way. Finally, we reach the canyon – where other bodies start to outline the blue night’s light on our extraterrestrial party. Don’t worry, this sound can travel through any atmosphere to reach your ears. I can never help from dancing, even if its just my foot on the couch, when the drums start to play.
This song rises the sun over the planet, and I am brought back to earth only to realize that I am already in outer space.
Overall Thoughts:
Easy 5 out of 5.
This whole album is a gift. It turns cleaning, crafting, working, and moving into a sweet movie montage. Writing this post after taking years off was effortless because I had What’s Your First Name on repeat.
Now it might be easy for you to think that this isn’t a truly critical review if you know that Esther also happens to be my younger sister. Maybe you’re thinking that, of course I have to like it, because we are related – but I would say you’re wrong.
Since the moment she could talk, I have been hearing Esther sing. It has shaped my understanding of what music could be, and what it takes to make it. I have an insatiable hunger to dance that her music is always able to feed. I do not like her music because she’s my sister, I like it because it pushes my experience of sound beyond what I can find in most other artists.
Year after year, she is my top artist on Spotify because I genuinely can’t get enough of living my life to her songs. The work and art I make owes credit to all three of Esther’s bands for helping me get into, and stay in, a deep creative zone.
The complexity and maturity of her production makes me think of Hans Zimmer or Radiohead (which go well in a playlist with hers). I have never met a mood that Esther didn’t have a song to match, and I am continually impressed by the levels she can get to with her skills. Her remarkable discography is growing into a musical career that creates its own genre.
It is my great privilege to have been born close enough to hear this emerging artist first, and I will amplify her until you all get to listen too.
Thank you for sharing, Esther!
