Autopoiética

by Mon Laferte

Overview

Chilean singer and songwriter Mon Laferte has experimented with and traversed an astonishing variety of musical styles and genres. Her earliest work was beat-conscious indie rock, while 2019's Norma ranged across 1940s big band, mambo, psychedelic cumbia, and salsa. In 2021, inspired by a documentary about the life and music of Chavela Vargas, she delivered Seis. Its songs run from ranchera and mariachi to bolero, banda, and corridos. Months later she issued the largely D.I.Y. 1940 Carmen, recorded in an L.A. apartment with her producer. The pair played all the instruments. Then there's 2023's Autopoietica, Laferte's only recording to deliberately borrow ideas from her catalog. Titled after the term "autopoiesis," coined by the Chilean biologist Humberto Maturan, it's defined as "a being able to self-create or re-create itself". Laferte claimed it as a metaphor for herself and humanity: We have the ability to re-create ourselves at any time, creating new universes and personal mythologies in that process. Opener "Tenochtitlan" weds bolero and trip hop in its hopes for a better life -- the singer tells his mother over and again he will send for her, but she dies before he can. "Prendele Fuego" weds electronica, Latin jazz, and tango in a sultry proceeding driven by hand percussion and an organ. Single "NO + SAD" is bumping, sinister reggaeton that offers sarcasm and irony in a paean to the danger a lone woman's liberation poses to society. The reggaeton jag is combined with polished salsa on "Metamorfosis." Single "40 y MM" melds trip hop, bolero, pop, rap, and Nuyorican-style salsa in relating the hard lessons Laferte's learned over 40 years. With a hint of salsa, the Chilean singer/songwriter keeps listeners on their toes musically intertwining several genres in less than four minutes. In "Levitico XX:IX" she employs ranchera and cumbia to take on one of the most oppressive verses in the bible that advocates stoning adulterers. "Ponocracia" melds cumbia and bolero in a pillowy, sensual weave of vocoders, electrified bandoneon, treated brass, and more before delivers "La Amantes Suicidas" in polished, articulate, vintage-style Cuban son. While "Mew Shiny," is minimalist neo-electro pop, closer "Casta Diva" is so abstract it's experimental. It possesses a sophisticated, cagey melody that, as it begins asserting itself in the refrain, is suddenly answered by a full choir buoying her. Before it ends, however, the entire track disintegrates into glitch and noise. In advance interviews, Laferte explains that the wide-open nature of her lyric writing and stylistic musical ambitions unite her past and present, thereby making Autopoietica her finest album. Though time will tell if that argument is truly sound, in the short term, her creative ambition musically, lyrically, and in the album's production makes one disinclined to argue. ~ Thom Jurek

Product Details

Release Date:	11/24/2023
Label:	Universal
UPC:	0602458691801
Rank:	37925

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Mon Laferte   Primary Artist,Voices,Percussion,Choir/Chorus
Jako Gonzalez   Flute
Jose Sanchez   Flute
Daniel Ponce   Percussion
Ramoncito 'El Leon' Gonzalez   Choir/Chorus
Aaron Cruz   Double Bass
Omar Perez   Viola
Alfredo Pino   Trumpet
Oscar Gonzalez   Double Bass
Braulio Hernandez   Bassoon
Lara Rose   Cello
Daniel Martinez   Percussion
Alejandro Guardiola   Trumpet
Jimmy Cruz   Choir/Chorus
Diego Oviedo   Percussion
Jo Gretsch   Choir/Chorus
Jhonivan Saenz   Accordion
Pedro Antonio Garcia   Trombone
Nabani Aguilar   Violin
Cynthia Sanchez   Choir/Chorus
Manu Jalil   Bass,Beatbox,Percussion,Choir/Chorus
Dano Martinez   Guitar,Beatbox,Percussion
Santiago Ortiz   Percussion
Angel Viquez   Trumpet
John Sosa   Violin
Rodolfo Jimenez   Cello
Cristina Arista   Cello
Gigio Parodi   Percussion
Anna Arnal   Viola
Sebastian Aracena   Guitar
Wilfredo Perez   Violin
Efrain Benavides   Violin
Leonelys Sanchez   Violin
Karla Lugo   Cello
Obed Vasquez   Cornet
Marian Dungatkin   Bandoneon
Franklyn Brooks Carballo   Choir/Chorus
Grtsch Zavaleta   Choir/Chorus
Yudith Rojas   Trombone
Eugenio Macchetto   Double Bass
Israel Coyoc   Violin
Marlene Lara   Viola
Rose Lira   Cello
Baldomero Jimenez   Piano
Cuauhtemoc Rivera   Percussion
Araceli Perez   Choir/Chorus
Arielle Lopez   Oboe
Eduardo Valenzuela   Speech/Speaker/Speaking Part
Esther Barria   Speech/Speaker/Speaking Part
Gilberto Amaro   Choir/Chorus
Marco Sudance   Speech/Speaker/Speaking Part
Ricardo Lopez   Choir/Chorus
Ismael Fernandez   Clarinet

Technical Credits

Vincenzo Bellini   Composer
Jorge Valdes   Producer,Assistant Producer
Abelardo Rivera   Recording
Daniel Martinez   Recording,Programming
Mon Laferte   Composer,Producer
Pablo Rojas   Recording
Manu Jalil   Composer,Producer,Recording,Programming
Florencia Quinteros   A&R
Ignacio Sotelo   Mixing
Dano Martinez   Producer,Recording,Programming
Chalo Gonzalez   Mastering Engineer
Joel Orta   Recording
Norma Monserrat Bustamante Laferte   Composer
Gigio Parodi   Recording
Nacho Sotelo   Mastering Engineer
Nicolas Chavez Alzaga   Producer,Recording,Programming
Magic En El Beat   Producer,Recording,Programming
Isai Araujo   Recording
Marian Dungatkin   Recording
Edu Sahe   Mixing Assistant
Manuel Alejandro Soto Calvo   Composer
Paola Zozaya   Producer,Assistant Producer
Eduardo Valenzuela   Recording
Esther Barria   Composer,Recording
Feli Caster   Recording
Javiera Catalina Opazo Perez   Composer