Album Review: LIFE ON EARTH by Hurray for the Riff Raff

Born in the Bronx and raised by their Puerto Rican aunt and uncle, they ran away as a teenager and spent years hopping freight trains across the country - a life which would sound like a beatnik cliche if it wasn't precisely what they did. In the mid-2000s they found a home in the Dead Man Street Orchestra, a hobo-band where they honed their musicality until they broke out in 2008 as Hurray for the Riff Raff , writer of vintage American character songs in the Woodie Guthrie, Neil Young vein. Despite this, Segarra has long lost patience with three-chord folk songs.

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Alynda Segarra’s latest invokes a step change, confirming her to be an artist ready to embrace newfound opportunities Since first releasing albums under the Hurray For The Riff Raff name back in 2007, Alynda Segarra's music has been characterised by a rustic, bluegrass-hued sound, wrapped up in the traditions and culture of Americana. Yet, Life On Earth, her first album on the Nonesuch label, represents a deviation of sorts as she strikes out to pursue new sounds and ideas with confidence that suggest this album could be one that opens up new audiences for the New Orleans based artist. The press release speaks of the songs being centred around surviving and thriving in a world of turbulence and change and it's certainly reflected in the music, both in terms of the stylistic changes but also in some of the lyrics.

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