‘Metamorfosis’ is an album that was born out of an exploration of the feminine in mythologies across different cultures, with the intention of finding symbolisms that could help create a character that could embody these different experiences into a made-up mythological being whose story would mix myth with lived experience, both personal and of women in my life. I knew from the beginning that I wanted the album to be centered around the human voice, in its different capabilities, exploring the diversity of sounds that are possible with it.

The project -as often happens- grew to be something more complex; during my investigation, I found that a present element in many mythologies was the idea of changing physical form, then I learned about the Arhuaco people from Colombia, whose chamans are considered to be capable of shape-shifting, an ability that allows them to understand the world from the perspective of different non-human beings in nature. This teaching changed the direction of the project, now allowing me to explore something else: our own capacity to transform ourselves by understanding different perspectives, being aware of the complexity of human experience in ourselves and in others.

The main character in the story became a shape-shifting deity who, in each chapter, embodies a different being or natural phenomenon, learning more about herself in each form she takes. The story is told sometimes in the first person, sometimes in the second person, sometimes in the third person, showing the process of introspection this deity undergoes, but also how she is perceived by others as she goes through transformation. The story starts in the first chapter, ‘Tormentas’, in which the character takes the shape of a violent storm, after being locked up for a long time. Loosely based on Coatlicue, the Aztec goddess of earth, life, death and the cycles of life, and whose monolith was buried for centuries by the Spanish colonizers, this starts as an awakening that explores nature’s (and humans’) potential as both a creating and destroying force.

The story goes on as this character takes different shapes in each chapter: that of a fragile flower whose flowers are withering (Perdí Mis Flores), or of a violent fire that destroys a whole forest and all life in it (Incendios), or of a star in formation (Polvo). In the sixth chapter, ‘Metamorfosis’, she becomes several animals; this chapter, which gives the album its name, was made in a collaboration with Mexican singer and improviser Sarmen Almond, who is well-known for her vocal explorations and for expanding the capabilities of the voice and who was able to embody through her singing the complexities of undergoing a transformation process. ‘Fertilidad’, the seventh chapter, is a celebration of the creation of life and of female sexuality. There are two chapters, ‘Nacimiento’ and ‘Visión’, that are told from an external perspective and that serve as the thread for the story, telling the listener parts of a larger story.

Each chapter in ‘Metamorfosis’ is intended as a reminder of our own capacity to assume diverse forms, of all the destructive, creative, fragile, and ferocious potential that resides within each of us. Each chapter is an invitation to recognize ourselves in these forms, to acknowledge our evolving role in relation to power and violence, and to learn to see ourselves and others from different perspectives.

The human voice is a central element in the record. I wanted to explore many of its possibilities. For this, I was able to collaborate with several members of AVAJI (a Georgian polyphony Mexico City-based choir) who recorded many of the vocal parts, singer-songwriter Paulina Parga and singer and improviser Sarmen Almond. All of their voices became central to the sound of the project and I’m grateful to them for being a part of this.