"On Hurray for the Riff Raff's latest album, The Past Is Still Alive, songwriter Alynda Segarra acts as a reanimator, casting the old American cowboy myth in a new light, crafting heroic legends for long-lost friends of theirs, and finding ways to commune with their father, who they lost right before recording the album," Raina Douris, host of NPR's World Cafe, says of her guest. "I love this record." You can hear their conversation and four songs from the album—"Colossus of Roads," "Snake Plant (The Past is Still Alive)," "Buffalo," and "Hawkmoon"—here:

Segarra was recently on ABC Radio National's The Music Show in Australia to talk with presenter Andrew Ford about The Past Is Still Alive ahead of their tour of the country next month. You can hear their conversation here and get tickets to the tour here.

Segarra created The Past Is Still Alive during a period of personal grief, when they found inspiration in radical poetry, railroad culture, outsider art, the work of writer Eileen Myles, and activist groups like ACT UP and Gran Fury. Segarra uses their lyrics as a way to immortalize and say goodbye to those they have loved and lost, and to honor both the heartbroken and the hopeful parts of themselves. "Segarra has created an epic tale of life on the road, a nearly mythic version of their own life story that stands alongside other great American musical travelogues," exclaims NPR Music. "Career-defining." Rolling Stone says: "Segarra has honed their craft into a cohesive, astonishingly realized singer-songwriter record ... the best batch of songs Segarra's ever written." Paste calls it "a celebratory measure of love, sanctuary, and defiance ... In their hands, the trauma of the present day is a prelude to the possibilities of a better tomorrow." You can get it and hear it here.