Hurray for the Riff Raff

The Nonesuch debut of Hurray for the Riff Raff (aka Alynda Segarra), Life on Earth, out February 18, 2022, is a departure for the Bronx-born, New Orleans-based singer/songwriter. Its eleven new “nature punk” tracks on the theme of survival are music for a world in flux—songs about thriving, not just surviving, while disaster is happening.

For her eighth full-length album, Segarra (they/she) drew inspiration from The Clash, Beverly Glenn-Copeland, Bad Bunny, and the author of Emergent Strategy, adrienne maree brown. Recorded during the pandemic, Life on Earth was produced by Brad Cook (Waxahatchee, Bon Iver, Kevin Morby).

Life on Earth’s first single, “RHODODENDRON,” is about “finding rebellion in plant life. Being called by the natural world and seeing the life that surrounds you in a way you never have. A mind expansion. A psychedelic trip. A spiritual breakthrough. Learning to adapt, and being open to the wisdom of your landscape. Being called to fix things in your own backyard, your own community,” says Segarra.

Of the “Rhododendron” video, which was directed by New Orleans-based artist Lucia Honey, Segarra says: “It is really far out and fun. I got this bodysuit that just looks like the inside of the human body. It looks like you’re skinless. It’s in a scene where I’m playing to an audience of plants. Just really absurd, but I put that suit on and I was like man, this feels really good. It feels like, ‘This is who I am. Let’s just take the skin off.’

“It reminds me a little bit of Kids in the Hall,” they continue. “With this ‘Rhododendron’ shoot, something clicked in me where I was like, ‘All I have to do is be myself.’ I had been thinking that I had to be something bigger than myself. I felt like I was just never quite making the mark and then something clicked where I was like, ‘I just gotta be me. I could do that. I could show up and be me. And if people don’t like it, then I don’t know what to fucking tell them.’ It was like a brain shift of, ‘Oh, this can be fun. It doesn’t have to be suffering.’ With so many videos and photo shoots before, it really felt like suffering. I felt so uncomfortable being perceived. I didn’t know who I was.”

Alynda Segarra was born and raised in the Bronx, which they left at the age of seventeen, running away from everything and everyone they knew, hopping freight trains or hitchhiking across the country in the company of a band of street urchins. Segarra moved to New Orleans in 2007 and formed two bands: Dead Man’s Street Orchestra and Hurray for the Riff Raff. In 2015, Segarra decamped to Nashville, then to New York, to make her most recent album, 2016’s critically praised The Navigator, an ambitious and fully realized concept album that was her quest to reclaim her Puerto Rican identity. Segarra’s previous records as Hurray for the Riff Raff are Crossing the Rubicon (EP, 2007), It Don’t Mean I Don’t Love You (2008), Young Blood Blues (2010), Hurray for the Riff Raff (2011), Look Out Mama (2012), My Dearest Darkest Neighbor (2013), and Small Town Heroes (2014).

Past Shows


Apr
8
th
2022
Fine Line
Apr
8
th
2022
Fine Line
Apr
23
rd
2018
Mainroom
Apr
23
rd
2018
Mainroom
Apr
30
th
2017
Fine Line
Apr
30
th
2017
Fine Line

Hurray for the Riff Raff

with Ron Gallo
Nov
7
th
2015
Mainroom
Nov
7
th
2015
Mainroom

City and Colour

with Hurray for the Riff Raff
May
1
st
2015
The Cedar Cultural Center
May
1
st
2015
The Cedar Cultural Center
Sep
20
th
2014
Canterbury Park
Sep
20
th
2014
Canterbury Park

Trampled by Turtles

with The Head And The Heart, Low, CHARLES BRADLEY & HIS EXTRAORDINAIRES and more!
Oct
22
nd
2013
7th St Entry
Oct
22
nd
2013
7th St Entry

More Shows

Mar
9
th
First Avenue

Ricky Montgomery

Feb
10
th
First Avenue

Briston Maroney

with Phoebe Go
Feb
4
th
7th St Entry

Ryan Mack

Nov
30
th
First Avenue

Luke Grimes