Saturday Sessions
Alynda Segarra and company showcase “Alibi,” “Buffalo,” and “Hawkmoon” from acclaimed album
Hurray for the Riff Raff dropped by CBS Mornings’ studio to perform three tracks from their new album The Past Is Still Alive for “Saturday Sessions.”
For the mini-concert, singer-songwriter Alynda Segarra — who uses they/them pronouns — delivered the first three songs from the recently released LP, “Alibi,” “Buffalo,” and “Hawkmoon,” accompanied by NNAMDÏ on bass.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Segarra broke down The Past Is Still Alive, an album informed by grief, like the death of Segarra’s father and, as on “Alibi,” a childhood friend who had become addicted to heroin.
“It’s straight-up just being like, how do I possibly convince the listener that they deserve to live?” Segarra said of the track. “And also recognizing I can’t convince somebody of that. Or the only person I can actually convince is myself.”
“Hawkmoon” is about the extravagant Miss Jonathan, the first transgender woman Segarra met. “It’s my way of trying to create this memorial to her, even though I don’t even know where she is,” Segarra told Rolling Stone.
The Past Is Still Alive is Hurray for the Riff Raff’s first album since 2022’s Life on Earth, which tackled subjects like sexual abuse and the climate crisis. On the new album, Segarra instead looked inward. “With past albums, I felt this pressure to be very hopeful, and to give people hope, and it started to really make me uncomfortable,” Segarra said. “I wanted to free myself of that role, and say that things are gonna have to fall apart for us to build something new.”
Hurray for the Riff Raff is currently on the road in support of The Past Is Still Alive, including stops at New Orleans Jazz Fest and a mid-summer North American leg with Norah Jones.