Buscabulla has announced their long-awaited debut album, Regresa, set for release on May 8. The band has also shared a new single and video, "NTE", ("No Te Equivoques" or "Don't Get It Wrong") alongside the album announce.
The “NTE” video is the band's first official performance video, and is set on the Aguadilla waterfront. Directed by artist and photojournalist Chris Gregory-Rivera and filmed by local cinematographer Frank Elias on 16mm film, the video shows the band set up in front of a slowly descending sunset performing the song, while Raquel wears a disguise hinting at the song's theme of misdirection. The song speaks in a spirit of defiance, with the band coming back home amidst social and economic turmoil, reclaiming their own narrative and forging an identity in uncertain times.
“NTE” follows the album’s first single “Vámono”, released last fall—a rally to those who have returned, as well as those whom have left their home out of necessity. The video was inspired by the Festival de Máscaras de Hatillo, celebrated in a region close to the group's own personal history in Puerto Rico.
Full of angst and an underlying sense of loss, Regresa—which means “return” or “to come back”—is a bittersweet, introspective, eye-opening journey. “The album reflects the joys of being back but it’s also melancholic,” Raquel says. “You can feel like a stranger in your own home because the island is going through very hard, weird times. Most people our age have fled. We have also changed after being away for so long.”
The album, recorded in its entirety in Raquel’s and Luis Alfredo’s home studio in Puerto Rico, is an emotional roller coaster in which they face and ponder the issues affecting them and Puerto Rican society at large: the frustration at the lack of opportunities for locals while tax breaks lure rich investors, social and political instability as well as anxiety and self-doubt.
For the finishing touches, the band worked with Patrick Wimberly (Chairlift, MGMT, Solange, Blood Orange, etc.) who contributed additional production and mixed the album. They also enlisted their dear friend Roberto Carlos Lange, aka Helado Negro, to contribute an orchestral arrangement for "Club Tú y Yo."
In Regresa, Buscabulla ultimately calls for self-reflection, awakening and perseverance in the midst of an uncertain future. Says Raquel, “Regresa is about self-acceptance of oneself with all our imperfections, and the acceptance of being back in Puerto Rico, with all its flaws."
TRACKLIST
01. Vámono
02. La Fiebre
03. El Aprieto
04. Club Tú y Yo
05. Mío
06. NTE
07. Manda Fuego
08. No Sabemos
09. Nydia
10. Volta
11. Ta Que Tiembla
