Show notes
Alynda Segarra is a singer songwriter from the Bronx. They formed Hurray for the Riff Raff in 2007, and since then, they’ve released 8 albums. Their most recent is The Past Is Still Alive, which came out in 2024. It was named one of the best albums of the year in the New York Times, the Associated Press, Entertainment Weekly, and The Atlantic, and Pitchfork called it one of the best albums of the decade so far. For this episode, I spoke to Alynda about the first track on the album, “Alibi.” For more info, visit songexploder.net/hurray-for-the-riff-raff.
Highlighted moments
I was getting so sick of my cowboy chords, you know. So I started playing this little finger picking pattern with these chords that I didn't even know what they were. And it just really transported me. It was like a trick.
“I see your track marks poking out your hoodie sleeve. I want my language to be specific and I want it to be so true to me and my life. And that image felt really like, okay, this is true.”
“But then his brother, Phil Cook, came in and laid down this guitar line. I was like, holy shit. This is classic. When I heard that guitar line, I just saw such an expansive highway, desert, nowhere.”
Transcript
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