Up until the band split almost two years ago, Prince Rama electrified audiences with their high-energy psych-pop music and their powerful live performances. Today (Aug. 17), the band’s frontwoman Taraka marks her return, announcing her debut album Welcome to Paradise Lost, out Oct. 8 on the artist’s own Rage Peace Records. Conceived, per a press release, in a “hot Texas gallery with a live serpent in an attempt to return to a pre-internet Eden,” the album is a shift away from Taraka’s previously dance-heavy material into old-school grunge and jangly punk territory. Recorded with Gang Gang Dance’s Tim Koh and former Prince Rama collaborator Ryan Sciano, Welcome to Paradise Lost is a return to “the dark existential world of her inner teenager,” Taraka says.
Unveiled alongside the album’s announcement is lead single “Psychocastle,” a raucous and fun track that captures the sound of adolescent angst through the lens of psychedelic punk and classic grunge. Taraka says of the single:
Ever try to escape your bedroom, but feel like you’re still asleep? Ever try to wake up, but find yourself back in the dream? Ever try to take off your mask, but another one pops up beneath it? Ever try to consult your inner self, but inside your skin is merely a rotting corpse? Ever feel like every path you take is just another mobius strip leading you back to where you first began? Congratulations, welcome to the Psychocastle.
Accompanying the single is a video directed by Taraka and Matthew Hoffman, and shot in a mental hospital in upstate New York. Check it out alongside the cover art and tracklist for Welcome to Paradise Lost below, and revisit our 2015 feature with Prince Rama here.
Welcome to Paradise Lost Album Art:
Welcome to Paradise Lost Tracklist:
01. Once Again
02. Welcome to Paradise Lost
03. Sad Blue Eyes
04. Ride Or Die
05. Psychocastle
06. Total Failure
07. 0010110
08. Lucifer Exit
09. So Happy For You
10. Practice Makes Perfect
11. Bad Bonezz
12. Thank You
13. Deep Hollow
14. Old Gloves
