Hurray for the Riff Raff have revealed that their new album, The Navigator, is slated for release on March 10 via ATO Records. The record will be a follow up to the group’s breakthrough 2014 effort, Small Town Heroes.
Led by New Orleans-based singer-songwriter Alynda Lee Segarra, Hurray for the Riff Raff have released a series of lyrically masterful and, at times, politically-charged albums since 2008. The Navigator is shaping up to be no different, as the record is reportedly a concept album about the gentrification and the exploration of identity.
According to a press release, the album “tells an interwoven, cinematic story of a wandering soul at a crossroads of identity and ancestral weight. It finds a street kid named Navita traversing a perpetually burning city in search of herself.”
“The Navigator is the call of your ancestors asking you to finally make things right,” Segarra wrote in a Facebook post. “The Navigator is you trying to make your way through a society that says you are too brown, too female, too queer, or too smart for your own good. The Navigator defies borders. The Navigator is your child who believes in love. The Navigator is your father who has been to war and prays for peace. We all have an inner navigator who will guide us through this uncertain future. It’s time to listen.”
These themes are most certainly explored in the album’s first single, “Rican Beach,” which premiered via Pitchfork earlier today. The track is more rhythmically complex than the band’s previous efforts, perhaps due to the incorporation of percussionists Juan-Carlos Chaurand, Gregory Rogove (Rodrigo Amarante) and a trio of Bomba drummers, all of whom played on The Navigator.
“This is dedicated to the water protectors of Standing Rock—thank you for your bravery and giving us hope,” Segarra says. “Also, to the people people of Peñuelas, Puerto Rico, who are demanding an end to the AES dumping of coal ash which leads to water contamination—we are with you.”
“All over the world there are heroes, who, despite suffering generations of oppression, are protecting the land and the future of our humanity. Rican Beach is a fictional place, but it was written with my ancestors in mind. It’s time to call on yours and to always remember: this land was made for you and me.”
Segarra, who recently performed at a benefit for Democratic Senate candidate Foster Campbell, will support The Navigator with a lengthy international tour early next year. The outing will bring Hurray for the Riff Raff to Europe before the band returns to the United States for a run of dates that will conclude with a Jazz Fest after show at New Orleans’ Civic Theatre on Friday, May 5.
Tickets for Hurray for the Riff Raff’s upcoming tour will go on sale Friday, December 9 at 10am.
The Navigator tracklist:
- Entrance
- Living in the City
- Hungry Ghost
- Life to Save
- Nothing’s Gonna Change That Girl
- The Navigator
- Halfway There
- Rican Beach
- Fourteen Floors
- Settle
- Pa’lante
- Finale
Hurray for the Riff Raff Tour Dates:
March 21 – Manchester UK – Deaf Institute
March 22 – London UK – The Dome
March 23 – Winchester UK – The Railway Inn
March 25 – Brighton UK – Sticky Mikes
March 28 – Brussels BE – Rotonde
March 29 – Hamburg DE – Hakken
March 30 – Berlin DE – Gruener Salon
March 31 – Munich DE – Milla
April 2 – Munster DE – American Series – Pumpenhaus
April 3 – Rotterdam NL – Rotown
April 4 – Utrecht NL – EKKO
April 5 – Groningen NL –Vera
April 16 – Northampton, MA – Academy of Music
April 18 – Cambridge, MA – Sinclair
April 19 – Cambridge, MA – Sinclair
April 20 – New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom
April 21 – Philadelphia, PA – World Café (downstairs)
April 23 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
April 24 – Cincinnati, OH – Woodward Theater
April 25 – Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom
April 27 – Detroit, MI – Magic Bag
April 28 – Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall
April 29 – Madison, WI – High Noon Saloon
April 30 – Minneapolis, MN – Fine Line Music Café
May 2 – St. Louis, MO – Old Rock House
May 3 – Nashville, TN – Mercy Lounge
May 4 – Birmingham, AL – The Saturn
May 5 – New Orleans, LA – Civic Theatre
