"The night you were lost to / The cold air I stood there / I grew wings the blue spring / Was shriveling then gone..."
The rolling memory wheels and dark melancholy bravado of "Sirens", by Brooklyn-based singer, songwriter, and artist Otracami, aka Camila Ortiz, is by any measure strikingly beautiful in special ways, an everlasting beauty that seems to have magically existed before. It is the kind of song you bathe in allowing it's lovely sonic incarnations to change you, of course enhanced by Ortiz's stirring fluid vocal sound and magnetic melodies. Of course, everyone will hear this wonderful art piece in different ways but for me, personally, the overall impression feels as if it bloomed from late 60's broad French pop and more contemporary abstract indie at the same time. I feel psychic / artistic hints of two songs that, interestingly, were presented to the world 50 years apart, specifically "13 Jours en France" by French composer Francis Lai (which I believe was for a movie of the same name released in 1968 about that year's Winter Olympics) and Thom Yorke's 2018 "Unmade" (from the Suspiria soundtrack) converging artistically / attitudinally. I don't expect very many 'current' AP readers to be familiar with Francis Lai but do yourself a favor and dip into his soundtrack work and YES, this is another way to say that "Sirens" feels exceptionally filmic especially with Ortiz's lyrics that could be taken both amazingly metaphorical or actual (??) shading it into A24 / NEON places.
I truly love "Sirens", a single from Otracami's upcoming 2nd album, "Runoff" which is scheduled for release on March 20, 2026, via Figure & Ground.
-Robb Donker Curtius
LINER NOTES (excerpted / bracketed):
[Inspired by the myth of Persephone and her handmaidens—turned into eternal sirens after a tragedy—the song explores the murky boundaries of responsibility and loyalty. Written for a gallery installation at Art Basel, “Sirens” blends myth, personal reflection, and immersive performance art into a cinematic soundscape, further brought to life in a visually striking video co-created with Ortiz’s longtime collaborator Sai Tripathi.]
LYRICS
The night you were lost to
The cold air I stood there
I grew wings the blue spring
Was shriveling then gone
I won’t take the blame
I know you weren’t mine to lose
Know he wouldn’t let you choose
To stay
I won’t take the blame
He’s the one who keeps you trapped
But you can’t get your body back
You can’t get your body back
I was cursed with flight
I split the sky
I often cry
Just waiting
For the ships to come
It doesn’t take much
They give it all up
To me
I won’t take the blame
You never knew the world at all
I’m the one who watched you fall
Into his arms
Maybe it’s the same
He’s the one who keeps you trapped
But you can’t get your body back
and I can’t get my body back
The night that I lost you
I knew I was lost too
The great sea, before me
Was shimmering then gone
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THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://www.instagram.com/_otracami_
https://www.tiktok.com/@_otracami_
Otracami is a songwriter and artist based in New York.
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