Urgency is a common thread in the work of
Alynda Segarra
, the singer/songwriter who writes and records under the name
Hurray for the Riff Raff
. Ever since they made the leap to the majors with 2014's
Small Town Heroes
,
Segarra
expanded the horizons of their nervy folk-punk, incorporating elements that echoed sounds they heard while wandering the vast terrain of the United States.
Life on Earth
, their 2022 album, functioned as something of a zenith of this expansion, finding
dabbling with modern musical tools in such a bracing fashion that
The Past Is Still Alive
can't help but feel like something of a retraction -- an exhale after a prolonged period of exploration. Relaxed in its gait and softened around the edges,
feels gentle, even comforting, on the surface; the tempos never push, the melodies ring out clearly, and
sings with reassurance. Underneath the burnished surface, the album is every bit as vital as its predecessors, examining situations fraught with private and political pitfalls. Written in the wake of the death of their father,
is rife with
reckoning with personal loss, using their grief to mourn a world where things are starting to decay and fray, possibly to the point of extinction. On "Colossus of Roads," they sing "Say goodbye to America, I want to see it dissolve," concluding at the record's close "I used to think I was born in the wrong generation, but now I know I made it right on time/To watch the world burn, with a tear in my eye." It's hard to shake such gloom but the remarkable thing about
is that it never feels despairing: the warmth offers solace and companionship, even suggesting there's a future beyond the end of the world. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine