Cities can be lonely places until you find your footing, especially if you’ve travelled from another continent. But María Mónica Gutiérrez has created her own choir to keep her company. The singer-songwriter and composer layers her vocals to ethereal effect, recalling the delicate layering of Imogen Heap but also the music of her motherland, Colombia – such as bullerengue, where groups of women harmonise to promote peace and preserve traditions.
Gutiérrez moved to London from Bogotá for a music masters degree and goes by the name Montañera. It means “mountaineer” in Spanish, which seems fitting for her sonic explorations: adventurous and yet solitary. Her debut album, A Flor de Piel, began as a response to feeling untethered from a sense of place but sketches out her own musical world. She blends instruments and sounds from Colombia’s Pacific and Caribbean coasts alongside influences from Senegal and ambient electronics.
“A flor de piel” is a Colombian phrase that can be interpreted as “flowered skin”, meaning to be overwhelmed by emotion. And indeed the album has the naked vulnerability and meditative qualities that come from spending hours with only your Korg synthesiser for company. There are real choirs too: on standout track Santa Mar, Gutiérrez comes full circle and teams up not just with marimba master Cankita but the vocal group Las Cantadoras de Yerba Buena from Tumaco. See her bloom in London on 24 and 30 November.
A Flor de Piel is out now on Western Vinyl
