There’s quite a lot to unpack with this single, which is the debut collaborative one by Swedish alternative folk/pop artist Ester Idalia (Ester Widstam), who has previously featured in NMC through her membership of atmospheric Swedish duo CHIVVY, and the electronic producer TVÅ RÖDA (Fredrik Serholt), for whom this is the first time.
They began making music together last year, writing numerous songs from which they have now selected eight tracks for the album ‘convos’, set for release in the spring of 2027. This track, ‘wanja street’ and ‘paper money’ are the first songs to be released from the album.
The only street I’m familiar with apart from the one I live on is Coronation Street so I had to investigate what ‘wanja’ means. I’m sure you’ll be fascinated to learn that inter alia it respectively means eyeliner, an affectionate nickname on TikTok and a very popular given feminine name from the Kikuyu (Gikuyu) language in East Africa.
Big deal you might say, but a deeper dive reveals that the East African version comes from the root -nja (homestead/outside), literally translating to ‘the one from outside’ or ‘the visitor’.
So you might argue that Camus wrote a novel about a wanja.
Equally that they both saw themselves as outsiders, coming together to engage in songwriting by partaking in long, intimate studio conversations about their lives, dramas, and longings, which they then translated directly into finished songs, with ‘wanja street’ acting as a catalyst rather than a literal explanation of the song’s meaning and also as a gateway to the album.
It’s all a bit unsettling, as if you’ve wandered into an obscure funfair attraction like a Hall of Mirrors, and where the sounds you hear are as distorted as the images you see of yourself. Something that might have been a feature on The Twilight Zone.
Until, that is, you reach the last 40 seconds or so when it discovers some structure and design.
And that is when I realised there is a similarity between ‘wanja street’ and Ljug Aldrig’s ‘Seashells’, a single featuring Elliphant on guest vocals for which I haven’t gone any length of time between listenings in the four years since I first heard it.
The Swedes seem to have cornered the market in these mellow, melancholic, low-fi yet bejeweled and atmospheric pieces; a concoction of contrasts where the vocals seem to arrive as early morning mist, floating in the air, and the chemistry between those vocals and the musicianship is tangible.
‘wanja street’ is released under the record label Novoton.
(Continues after the Spotify link).
They play live for the first time at the Viva Sounds festival in Gothenburg, 26-28 November.
Find them on:
Facebook:
(Ester: https://www.facebook.com/ester.hilmersson)
Instagram:
(Ester: https://www.instagram.com/esteridalia.mp3/)
(Fredrik: https://www.instagram.com/tvaroda.wav/)
