The border is never far from Alex E. Chavezs mind.
All of it was a new, intimate process for the musician.
In my other work, I hardly ever write very personal stories, he says.
I rarely write in the first person.
This album is all of that.
It does feel a little different, a little vulnerable, a little raw.
Issues of immigration and both literal and figurative borders constantly come up in your work.
When she passed, being in that universe was a way to process it.
She was the victim of domestic violence.
Quetzal is part of that legacy of Chicano music in Los Angeles thats very much tied to activism.
And hes a Grammy Award winner and all the rest, but more than anything, hes an activist.
Hes someone who works in the traditional arts.
Aloe Blacc [worked on this, too], which is kind of crazy.
And with the song Dirty Hands, Quetzal was like, How about Aloe?
And we asked him, and he did it.
Id be remiss if I didnt mention Ramon Gutierrez, who is this killer in the son jarocho world.
At the end of the day, Im a first-gen Mexican American, right?
I love son jarocho as much as I do hip-hop.
Maybe this also speaks to us as Latinos, but were fans and experts in a number of genres.
I think Ive always kind of been conscious of that.
As the singles dropped, family members have reached out, and that connection is meaningful.
To be honest, having it out in the world, it does feel raw.
In other projects, I do write about politics and the border in that creative work.
Covid-19 happened, and thats a trauma we have not processed.
So hopefully these moments through art and congregating offer some reflection.
