Album Review: yMusic Continues To Be My Life’s Soundtrack In “First”
yMusic is a group of six New York City instrumentalists flourishing in the overlap between the pop and classical worlds. Their virtuosic execution and unique configuration (string trio, flute, clarinet, and trumpet) has attracted the attention of high profile collaborators—from Ben Folds to Jose Gonzalez—, and garnered world composers to formulate their high caliber pieces. I had the previous honor of reviewing yMusic, and, from the review, you can understand my excitement for their album First.
It is hard to describe my love for yMusic and their record: First. The album, which they played in concert, is like “popified” classical music. It is as if Chopin decided to soundtrack for a Hollywood film. This may sound like a humorous scenario, but it is also a glamorous one, which is why First is such a curious album. In feeling like a film soundtrack of humanity’s daily life, you get a vast, cinematic scope that reels a stream of spontaneous images. Honestly, the album will stir in people different philosophical ideas and visions as classical music, usually, does. In this sense, First comes off like a musical drug of which each person will drift to a different place in their mind according to certain songs. Yet, what is most fascinating is to see the different places you will drift compared to someone else. For instance, songs like, “Bows” or “Memory Wounds” can be a flash of various scenarios. You can dream of yourself dancing in Victorian Gala as the violins quickly pace into freneticism, or wonder where your old, childhood friend is as you recall running around your back-yard with them. These are two very different images, but unlike most albums, First builds an individual relationship listeners. While most records build personal ones, they are amassing like batch of Kanye fans connecting over Graduation. Instead, because First makes your dream so particular to you, it feesl like an intimate experience you share between you and your record alone. The result is gorgeous.
It is a magical idea that only my album and my heart know what I see in my mind. How beautiful! yMusic might be the only artist I have reviewed thus far to achieve that. Each song, from the dreamy “I Woke Up In The Forest” to the twinkling “Paris”, Rob Moose, Nadia Sirota, Gabriel Cabezas, Alex Sopp, Hideaki Aomori, and CJ Camerieri have created a world a colorful and moving as the real one we live in. I know that colorful and moving are not words you would use to describe our current times, but in making life seem like simple potion you drink to hear your own song, yMusic’s First reminds listeners that the beauty of music is that it can speak to you as individual. To buy yMusic’s First Click Here.
