STEFA*'s highly-anticipated debut album Born With An Extra Rib (2024) explores all the different versions of stefa marin alarco´n, 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 Parai´so. 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).
- 1. Costillas
- 2. Differ3Nt Today
