Hurray for the Riff Raff Is Covered in Blood in Return Single ‘Rhododendron”

Alynda Mariposa Segarra, who records under the moniker Hurray for the Riff Raff, will be returning with her first album in five years this February.

The record, titled Life on Earth, will be released on Nonesuch Records, which marks the major label debut for Segarra, who has has long recorded with ATO Records.

Produced by Brad Cook, Life on Earth, Segarra’s eighth studio album, was recorded during the pandemic. Segarra premiered several of the songs in a solo-acoustic, stripped-down manner during a several recent shows at Brooklyn’s Jalopy Theatre.

But the album’s lead single, “Rhododendron,” hints at a full-band, more fleshed-out arrangement, which we also heard on Segarra’s last record, 2017’s The Navigator. The song finds Segarra reciting a series of impressionistic imagery (“Morning glory/Naked boys/Limestone everglade/Police barracade”) culminating in a cathartic chorus: “Don’t turn your back on the mainland!”

In the video, Segarra dons various glammed-up outfits, and at one point, performs to a crowd of plants in a bodysuit.

The song is about “finding rebellion in plant life,” the singer-songwriter said in a statement. “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.”

Life on Earth will be out on February 18th, with a U.S. tour beginning the following month.