Hurray for the Riff Raff

Born in the Bronx and of Puerto Rican heritage, Alynda Segarra was radicalized before they were a teenager, baptized in the anti-war movement and galvanized in New York’s punk haunts and queer spaces. At 17, Segarra split, becoming the kid in a communal squat before shuttling to California, where they began crisscrossing the country by hopping trains. They eventually found home—spiritual, emotional, physical—in New Orleans, forming a hobo band and realizing that music was not only a way to share what they had learned and seen but to learn and see more. Hurray for the Riff Raff steadily rose from house shows to major stages, where Segarra became a pan-everything fixture of the modern folk movement. But that yoke became a burden, prompting Segarra to make the probing and poignant electronic opus, 2022’s Life on Earth, their Nonesuch debut. On The Past Is Still Alive, Segarra finally tells their story themselves, speckling stirring reflections on love, loss, and the end or evolution of the United States with foundational scenes from their own life. It is the record of Segarra’s life so far, not only because it chronicles the past to understand the present but also because it is the most magnetic thing Hurray for the Riff Raff have yet made.