“What myths do we inherit that keep us away from ourselves?” asks STEFA*, the self-proclaimed genderless/genreless vocalist, composer, educator and multimedia performance artist.

Born and raised in Queens to Colombian immigrants, STEFA* takes on this question through their amalgamation of punk, experimental pop and classical maximalism to reconsider their own origin stories “because so many of those were lost along the way of colonization. Born With An Extra Rib was me creating a story of myself and of my own becoming.” Written over the course of nine years, stefa describes “all the versions of myself that I’ve been while writing all of these songs - I feel like a completely different person. There’s a lot of unlearning in this journey - still things that I’m trying to practice unlearning.”

Following their debut EP Sepalina (2018), which NPR called “gorgeous and hypnotic,” stefa’s forthcoming debut album Born With An Extra Rib expands in scale and scope, being released alongside a ritual performance film that they created as Artist-In-Residence at The Kitchen.

Born With An Extra Rib: The Film (2023) won the Queer|Art|Prize for Recent Work, a Jury Award at TRANSlations Seattle Film Festival, and premiered at The Kitchen as a one-night sold out engagement.

“The questions that I was asking myself were coming from a place of rage and I wanted it to feel that way,” describes STEFA*. “I wanted it to feel very grand and was thinking about scale. I was thinking about ‘Costillas’ almost as a film and what it would look like on screen, and that then went back to what it was going to sound like. I was thinking about the voice and taking up space and also using my voice in a different way, thinking about opera and these bigger vocal pieces.”

ALBUM CREDITS

All tracks composed and performed by STEFA*

“Fascist Love” & “differ3nt today” produced by Abraham Cavin Quezada // “3COSAS!” produced by josé benjamín escobar // All others produced by stefa marin alarcon & Lily Wen 

Nick Jozwiak - bass // Miles Francis - drums (tracks 1, 3-4, 7-9) // Prince of Queens - synth // Puck - rhodes (track 4) // Stuart Bogie - flute (track 7) // Dilemastronauta - drums (track 1) // mowri - drums (tracks 6 + 7) // S T A R R Busby - vocals (track 9) // GypjaQ Kai - vocals (track 9) // José Benjamín Escobar - synth (track 9)

Recorded by Lily Wen // Drums recorded at Synthia Studio (tracks 1, 4, 7-8) // “Fascist Love” mixed by mowri // tracks 1, 4 & 9 mixed by Lily Wen

All others mixed by Eli Crews

Tracks 1, 6, 8 & 9 mastered by Jamal Ruhe // All others mastered by Sarah Register

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