The Heavy and Heady Soul of Hurray for the Riff Raff

Hurray for the Riff Raff began nearly a decade ago when frontperson Alynda Lee Segarra left the Bronx to travel the country via hitched rides and hopped trains.  They...

Hurray for the Riff Raff began nearly a decade ago when frontperson Alynda Lee Segarra left the Bronx to travel the country via hitched rides and hopped trains.  They eventually settled in New Orleans, where they’ve been writing and recording since, backed with a revolving lineup of like-minded musicians who have produced a handful of albums that have earned critical acclaim from NPRMojo, and No Depression.  Hurray for the Riff Raff’s sound embodies Americana via the most soulfully disenfranchised heart.  At their heaviest, Alynda Lee Segarra is producing ten-ton-trucks of ballads that lend themselves to the tears of the newly-enlightened.  In their slightly lighter moments, their sounds inspire imagery of a pre-modernist brand of partying (likely accompanied by the grainiest alcohol).  Last month Hurray for the Riff Raff released My Dearest Darkest Neighbor, a collection of mostly covers.  The band also recently signed to ATO Records and have a new album of original material set to drop early next year.

During a recent phone chat, Alynda Lee Segarra tells me they’re quite close with labelmates Alabama Shakes and that they’re really enjoying working with ATO: “They really let you be in control of your music, which is so important.”  “We really took our time and were more patient with everything,” they say of recording their new album.  In terms of what you can expect, Alynda tells me, “Our last album was a lot of different songs all together, of different genres, but, for this one, we kind of condensed them into what we do best.  There are a lot of stripped down, acoustic songs, but there are also some heartbreakers.”  They also clarify that, for this release, they were, “trying to write songs that have to do with a political statement, in the murder ballad tradition,” claiming a large influence to be the woman who was gang raped on a bus in India earlier this year (in addition to violence against women in general).  They explain that their latest work is all about, “merging the old tradition of songwriting with the current things we need to fix.”  However, Hurray for the Riff Raff are not all humanities headiness…  They’re currently on tour and will be making an August 9th stop at Johnny Brenda’s, and when I ask Alynda what we can expect of the live experience, they tell me, “We’re really trying to get people dancing… I don’t know if they dance in Philly…”

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During the day Izzy Cihak teaches transgression, subversion, and revolution at Temple University. At night he haunts Philthy's best venues to cover worthwhile acts for Philthy Mag. Morrissey is everything to him and, in their own heads, all of his friends see themselves as Zooey Deschanel.

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