The ocean blue vinyl is an invitation before the needle even drops. Libres antes del final — “Free before the end” — is Colleen’s most literal album, and perhaps her most transformative. Cécile Schott, who has recorded as Colleen for over two decades, loved the beach as a child. As an adult, she developed a water phobia that kept her out of the sea for more than thirty years. Finally confronting that fear, she hired an open water teacher and learned to swim again. The album chronicles that journey. The story is literal and metaphorical at once: the importance of a first step, the desire to leave fear behind, the plunge into the great unknown. After the first few strokes, it becomes easier; after the first few weeks, a habit; eventually the sea becomes part of the being, the being part of the sea. The tracks personify this transformation — the ebb, the flow, the peak, the trough, the dive, the stroke, the peace. Look closely at the cover: there lies the swimmer, no shore in sight. Libres antes del final by Colleen Opening track “Mis armas se habían caído al suelo” (“My weapons had fallen to the floor”) is a declaration of vulnerability — a brief ambient piece, tender and exposed, ending in the rush of a wave. Then “Puertas de mi cuerpo” (“Gates of my body”) takes that first step. The synth is active, pulsating, multi-layered, a stand-in for the sea. Warmth and embrace become apparent once the patterns grow more predictable — though like the waves, they are never fully predictable. New patterns emerge as stereo effects imitate the movement of the Mediterranean. The high-pitched notes of “Antidoto” arrive as a surprise, quickly balanced by the lower register, like sun sparkling on waves offset by the underwater muting of sound. The swimmer is now in the water. In “Aguas abiertas” (“Open waters”), the longest track, she leaves the shore behind, heading past the breakers and out to sea. Vulnerability remains, offset by trust. The piece best recreates the swimmer’s trance: a suspension of worry, a oneness with the water. The title track is sedate at the start, excited at the end — a microcosm of Colleen’s experience. She has taken the plunge many times, and while turbulence may surround her, her heart stays calm, because inside it is the sea. Pablo Neruda wrote: “I need the sea because it teaches me / I don’t know if it’s music or awareness.” Libres antes del final answers that question: it is both.
