London-based es.cher – artist, producer, guitarist – is quietly becoming a genre disruptor, fusing raw, guitar-driven electronica with maximalist, emotionally-charged soundscapes. Following production credits for Halsey (The Great Impersonator) and Skepta (48 Hours), and two acclaimed solo releases – genr.es (let go/what breaks-1) and EP 01.3 – they return with a new offering: ____, close to you, an immersive swing that spirals through noise and nuance.

Collaborating with es.cher on the track is French-born, London-rooted ultra caro, the vocalist, producer known for her work with PC Music, and another musician well-versed in blending worlds; making synthetic textures feel heartbreakingly human. Here, es.cher and ultra caro exchange quick-fire questions, delving into everything from favourite guitar tunings to pet kittens. 

Ultra caro asks es.cher

ultra caro: Hello, what have you been up to today?
es.cher: I went to see the sea today with a friend. It was raining, but it was fun. 

UC: You’ve moved cities recently – are you influenced by the environment you’re creating in?
E: I like the impersonality of big cities. It feels like there’s less focus on you, like being in an airport or a hospital. It’s quite calming to be part of traffic, but it’s a different type of anonymity than being in like, the middle of nowhere with animals. 

UC: Your music is generally quite emo. Is there one particular feeling or idea you keep coming back to, like a thread that links everything together?
E: [laughs] I’ve generally been interested in writing kind of depressing love songs, but in terms of fragments of other people and stories, so less personal. Like Bumblebee from Transformers, how he can only talk through cut-up radios. 

UC: Are there any albums you find yourself circling back to, which still hold relevance to whatever you want to feel or make?
E: That is difficult, there’s quite a lot. But recently I’ve been coming back to Obsidian by Baths, The Now, Now and Never by What is Your name?, In the Zone by Britney Spears, Bloom by Beach House, Konnichiwa by Skepta, i,i by Bon Iver, Silent Alarm by Bloc Party, Collide with the Sky by Pierce the Veil, Vespertine by Bjòrk, immunity by Clairo, 3 by Tricot, Hounds of Love by Kate Bush. This is probably too many.

UC: I know you make a lot of short video edits, do you often visualise things when you’re writing?
E: I like it when you hear little worlds when you listen to something. If a song that I’m making sounds like a space I would want to be in, then I’m like, yeah, that’s cool.

UC: You have a unique way of playing guitar, it’s really inspiring. What do you think has drawn you to that instrument, and are there guitarists in particular who have influenced your style?
E: Ah, thank you! I have no memory of why I started playing guitar. I remember being really into Jimi Hendrix and playing a lot of covers of emo bands, I really fuck with Yvette Young from Covet, she’s cool.

UC: What’s your fav guitar tuning?
E: Most of my songs are in DAEAC#E with layers in standard. I used to mostly use FACGCE because of Never Meant by American Football [laughs]. But recently I use standard, or with a couple of strings slightly different, it feels nicer to sound more dissonant and for some reason it feels a bit more human. 

UC: You’re also a producer, a rather forward-thinking one. How do you reconcile incorporating a more classic instrument like the guitar and making it sound modern and unexpected?
E: I think I find it easier to write songs on guitar, but I find it easier to make more fun noises on a laptop. It feels more intimate, and then I put it into different contexts; mostly lots of Ableton stock effects.  

UC: Fav live show you’ve ever been to?
E: I saw Jane Remover recently, but also maybe Death Grips in 2022 – they were great. Or when I saw American Football in the rain, that show was very beautiful and sad. I think I cried towards the end.

UC: Which sea creature would our song be?
E: The Greenland shark. They live for like 500 years, they’re usually blind, and they wander around under the ice. I think about that shark a lot. But maybe it’s more like a starfish. 

es.cher asks ultra caro

Es.cher: Before we met, I remember seeing you live in London in 2022 and you were playing with a samplepad and a drumstick, it recontextualised your songs in a really cool way. You’ve probably played with a lot of different setups. Is there a show that was most memorable for you?
ultra caro: Yeah, I think recontextualising is a good way to translate electronic productions to live sets, trying to adapt things and have fun with your music in a different way. In terms of the most memorable show I’ve played, I’d say it was with the band I was in before, Planet 1999. We played a few shows in Eastern Europe a few years ago and ended up in this packed club in Bratislava at like, one in the morning. The energy was insane, no one knew who we were but everyone was cheering and dancing like crazy, we really felt like rockstars that night. [laughs] 

E: Was there an artist or a song that made you want to make music?
UC: That’s a tough one because I have always been drawn to music for as long as I can remember. My first memories are of me singing in the car as a toddler. I knew all of Celine Dion’s songs, so maybe her. It was more like I was just enjoying singing a lot, but yeah, Celine Dion, Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston were my first vocal teachers and muses I’d say.

E: When we were making ____, close to you, you showed me Gala by Lush, and I think our song had some influences of that like, late 80s and 90s shoegaze era. Is there any album from that era that is important to you?
UC: I say this one all the time, but I don’t think I can answer this question without mentioning My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless. Slowdive’s Souvlaki is very important to me also. I still get the same chills every time I listen to it. It’s like I keep forgetting how deep it will hit me, but it never fails. 

E: You mentioned how the sea and nature where you grew up in France affected your sound a lot, how has being in London impacted your work?
UC: I love London as I get to meet a lot of different kinds of people and go to gigs. I thought extensively about how being away from the sea I grew up looking at is a deep source of longing and inspiration. I couldn’t live there right now because there’s not enough stimulation for me there, but on the other hand, it’s almost like there’s so much stimulation in London that it forces me to go back to this bubble emotionally, to the quietness and stillness of it.

E: I really love the rings and jewellery you make, are there any other types of art you like doing?
UC: Ah, thank u 🙂 A few years ago I started making little sculptures and drawings. I had never been interested in drawing as a kid, so I remember being surprised that I’d suddenly started doing it and enjoying that sort of stuff as an adult. The sculptures are small but very fun, with shiny colours and lots of rhinestones. ^^ It’s very relaxing to do things with your hands while you’re listening to music or a podcast. Because making music is all-encompassing and I find that hard sometimes – that literally all parts of you have to be dedicated to it, so it’s nice to do activities that give your mind space to wander.

E: You have a very dreamy, unique production style, does that sonic world change when you’re working with someone else? Do you think making a song with someone else is part of your world or theirs? Or does it make its own world?
UC: I’m still pretty new to collabs, because when we worked as a band with Planet 1999 it was really a world we built together and I felt completely part of it. But for my solo endeavours, it’s never straightforward. When I feel intrigued or moved by what someone else is doing, then I’d say it becomes something else. It also depends of my vocals, if I’m singing ‘ultra caro’ mode then it feels closer to my world. ___, close to you, for example, is different, but it also doesn’t feel too far away. I’ve also recently started experimenting with other voices of mine, and I find it super exciting that I get to explore new worlds within myself. 

E: How’s the new kitten in your house doing?
UC: Morag is doing so good. [laughs] He has the zoomies a lot, so his mum and him are playing like crazy. He mostly plays, eats and sleeps. He’s a very happy chubby boy.

E: Is there any instrument you wish you could play?
UC: I would love to know how to play the saxophone, it soothes me so much.

E: Where would you like to imagine your songs being listened to?
UC: In a car definitely, ideally driving along a coast somewhere.

E: What album would you want to live in if it was a house?
UC: Defo a Kate Bush album, The Sensual World maybe. It’d be like a sort of mushroom tree house with a sea view, and relentless winds blowing from every corner that only die down when the moon comes out to light up the sea.