Stefa* – Costillas B/w Differ3nt Today

Description

STEFA*’s highly-anticipated debut album Born With An Extra Rib (2024) explores all the different versions of stefa marin alarcon, the self-proclaimed “genderless” and “genreless” vocalist, composer, educator, and multimedia performance artist. At the heart of the album – featured on Bandcamp’s Best Latin Music and released alongside an eponymous live performance film presented by The Kitchen – STEFA* poses a central question: “What myths do we inherit that keep us away from ourselves?” Born and raised in Queens to Colombian immigrants, STEFA* takes on this question through their unique amalgamation of punk, classical maximalism, and experimental pop, to reconsider their own origin stories. To celebrate a year of the record, STEFA* is widely releasing a limited edition 7-inch package with album tracks “Costillas” and “differ3nt today” cut into a vinyl 45. “The questions that I was asking myself were coming from a place of rage and I wanted it to feel that way,” details stefa on the A-side. “I wanted it to feel very grand and was thinking about scale. I was thinking about opera and these bigger vocal pieces.” B-side “differ3nt today” is a downtempo song that explores identity expansiveness, showcasing yet another side of stefa’s genre-fluid music. Stefa shares: “I was inspired by ’90s music listening to this, like ’90s alt-rock/pop. I wanted this to feel like an anthem for people – for everyone – not just for trans people, not just for non-binary people, not just for queer people. We all change so often and we have a right to change, so I wanted it to be an invitation for people to ask these same questions.” STEFA* recently premiered San Cha’s new opera Inebria Me as well as New Latin Wave and National Sawdust experimental chamber opera Paraiso. They joined Xenia Rubinos on her last tour and collaborated with OHYUNG on the anthemic “Huele a Fraude” from the soundtrack of Julio Torres’ debut film Problemista (A24).