photo: Sasha Pedro
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Multitudes is a cunning title for any debut record, all the more so when the artist is a polymath, blending genres. What’s more, Alisa Amador’s first effort manifests her intuitive ability to roll in and out of English and Spanish—a skill that also transitions to the live stage. “People always say that one of their favorite parts of the show is when I translate my own lyrics [from Spanish] into English and try to figure out how to say them. It’s like this impromptu poetry moment,” Amador observes. “I was raised with that as part of the family culture. You want everyone to understand what you’re saying and feel included.”
However, despite this laudable goal, Amador was ready to exclude herself from the process and abandon all musical pursuits, until a moment of destiny reaffirmed her creative resolve. “When I won NPR Tiny Desk, I was almost like, ‘Do I tell them to call someone else?’ Because I don’t know if I can keep being a musician. The approach that I was taking had broken me—the way that the industry is designed is to break independent artists, especially artists socialized as women. But then, a voice in my mind said, ‘This is your purpose. This is a sign that you have to continue; however, if you’re going to continue, it has to be on your terms.’”
Healing was at the core of Amador’s renewal, a process that presents sonically like the journal pages she sketched and scribed while originating the 12 tracks. “I was approaching songwriting not from a place of pressure to produce, as much as this is, and has been, my coping mechanism.” From her restorative state, Amador extends her self-worth to the listener and urges acceptance, in her own words: “Feeling like you’re not wrong for existing the way you do.”
“The newer songs tend to be about identity and mental health. And the older songs are more about navigating a crazy world while growing up and feeling lost, searching for your purpose,” Amador says of the block of time represented on the set.
“I don’t feel ashamed of the songs I wrote five years ago,” she offers with a self-assured grin. “I love how they all fit together because it is a snapshot of five years of growing up—‘to the extent that I’ll ever grow up,’ to quote my dad.”
Amador’s full length entry conveys the pure resilience of her battled spirit, blending notes of her Latina background with folksy elements that percolate through and nod to her parents’ Sol Y Canto band, while also offering a sizzling sense of nowness. As the title suggests, Multitudes will reveal itself in layers, begging for repeat listens as Amador’s world comes into focus.
“Helping people feel less alone has always been my philosophy,” she says of the motif reflected throughout her songs. “It keeps feeling like deeper work because, as I uncover layers of trauma and healing in myself, I’m then stepping forward onstage and sharing those songs. I hope that, in the course of my lifetime as a musician, it can just keep expanding.”
The post At Work: Alisa Amador appeared first on Relix Media.
