LIFE ON EARTH
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LIFE ON EARTH Image
Metascore
87

Universal acclaim - based on 13 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.6

Universal acclaim- based on 11 Ratings

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  • Summary: The latest full-length release for Alynda Segarra's project Hurray For The Riff Raff was produced by Brad Cook.
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 13
  3. Negative: 0 out of 13
  1. The Line of Best Fit
    Feb 17, 2022
    90
    Segarra reaches, with stunning empathy, into the lives of people struggling with specific or universal hardships throughout and yet, crucially, these songs would be killer without the stories at the heart of them.
  2. AllMusic
    Feb 24, 2022
    90
    Segarra has wound up with a distinctive album, one that operates equally skillfully on an emotional and intellectual level.
  3. Beats Per Minute
    Feb 24, 2022
    84
    On Life On Earth, marginalized voices are amplified and given credence. Segarra is the kind of potent lyricist who can flesh out characters and scenes with just one or two lines, paint entire panoramic worlds within the succinct space of a song.
  4. Slant Magazine
    Feb 15, 2022
    80
    The album takes the listener on a journey—one that’s as satisfying as it is because Hurray for the Riff Raff covers so much new musical territory with such self-assuredness, from guitar-heavy indie rock (“Pointed at the Sun”) to folk-punk (“Rhododendron”) to hip-hop (“Precious Cargo”). Indeed, with Life on Earth, they’ve achieved something truly enviable: a fresh start.
  5. The Observer (UK)
    Feb 21, 2022
    80
    A brace of great tunes make the case: Rhododendron nods at Jonathan Richman’s Roadrunner, somehow making wildflowers sound gloriously disreputable. Saga, meanwhile, is a traumatised ballad that channels David Bowie, but with acoustic guitars and horns.
  6. Glide Magazine
    Feb 21, 2022
    80
    Life On Earth is a continuation of Hurray For The Riff Raff’s upward projection, ideally breaking her out to a larger listening audience, as Segarra’s voice dominates while musical surroundings ebb and flow in both natural and haunting fashion.
  7. musicOMH.com
    Feb 21, 2022
    80
    In swapping fiddles, banjo and slide guitar for synths, piano and dynamic guitars, Life On Earth invokes a true sense of step change, capturing Segarra moving into the spotlight with purpose and confirming herself to be an artist ready to embrace newfound opportunities.

See all 13 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. All_ButTrU4
    Mar 18, 2022
    7
    Intial score:8 (19/02/22)

    rescore:7.7 (18/03/22) Alynda Segarra said her 10th release felt like a debut which might sound confusing    Intial score:8 (19/02/22)

    rescore:7.7 (18/03/22)

    Alynda Segarra said her 10th release felt like a debut which might sound confusing given how the caliber of her previous releases wouldn't be something to omit but now I've heard it. I understand the momentous significance of "Life on earth" how it bookends a rebirth. I don't know why but listening to it sounds like how a burnt field smells,sounds like heat. Which is ampt given it's themes of renewal and how she captures it's variations with enough care they maintain their depths. It feels hyperbolic to call this record flawless but it's not far off. Reminiscent of "fetch the bolt cutters " spirit and waxahachee "st. cloud " it delivers a searing biography of survival.

    A manifesto on surviving "life on earth " begins with a retreat. "Not safe at home anymore" evoke a betrayal of security that tells you all it needs of it's intention. And the running only goes on further from there as escapes appear in songs routinely. Despite it's heavy themes it has a resilient joy that we first taste in the lead single "PIERCED ARROWS " which through it's chorus of "hey that's no way to die" affrirms that even in hopeless circumstances there's a tomorrow worth staying for. The bubbling 3rd track finds community in knowing pain is universal and they aren't alone, their pain isn't unique. The Jesus symbolism indicative of pain for salvation adds a hopeful meaning to the title almost suggesting life on earth is only that and not all of life and to horde your trauma is to crucify yourself. "Rhododendron" is a coming to terms with not knowing and it's rhythm is deceptively chipper for someone realizing they've been robbed of themselves but when she says"don't turn back on the mainland" i know she means don't give up on finding yourself. "Jupiter's dance" slides with a cate le bon groove to cleanse the weight of "Rhododendron'' before the ballad title track descends. When she says life on earth is long she sounds tired,exhausted by living ,a depressing notion to keep.

    However "nightqueen" revels in the impermanence as if to say life is only long while you live it and shorter in the past so to enjoy it's freedoms ,it sounds like a sequel to Cassandra Jenkins "hard drive". "Precious cargo" takes a backseat into someone elses perspective as they chase the American dream Segarra was born into.its creativity reminds me of a 2021 higlight "una rosa" that tackles similar topics on "who shot ya".it's directness and sing speak give a genuine platform to ICE brutality, it's slow and infuriated. I don't know what exactly "rosemary tears " attempts to say beyond pining to begin again without being able to let go,the trumpets are beautiful ,like bon iver __45__ .

    The higlight of this journey comes in the second to last song where a relationship riddled with abuse is recounted with a tripping honesty that i gasped my first listen with goosebumps across my arms. It's only fitting the final song is a 50sec instrumental that sounds like water washing over a shore. A cleanse. Something new finally beginning.    … Expand

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