Hurray for the Riff Raff has announced the follow-up to their fantastic 2022 album LIFE ON EARTH. The Past Is Still Alive is due out February 23 via Nonesuch. It was produced by Brad Cook, mixed by Mike Mogis, and features contributions from Anjimile, Conor Oberst, and S.G. Goodman on vocals, with a backing band including Libby Rodenbough, Matt Douglas, Hand Habits’ Meg Duffy, Yan Westerlund, Brad and Phil Cook, and Mogis. See the cover art and tracklist below.
The lead single is the folk and country-inflected “Alibi,” and you can watch the accompanying video, directed by Eric Stafford, below. “The Past Is Still Alive is an album grappling with time, memory, love and loss, recorded in Durham, NC a month after losing my Father,” Alynda Segarra says. “‘Alibi’ is a plea, a last ditch effort to get through to someone you already know you’re gonna lose. It’s a song to myself, to my Father, almost fooling myself because I know what’s done is done. But it feels good to beg. A reckoning with time and memory. The song is exhausted with loving someone so much it hurts. Addiction separates us. With memories of the Lower East Side in the early 2000s of my childhood, mixed with imagery of the endless West that calls to artists and wanderers.”
Hurray for the Riff Raff has also announced a spring US tour supporting the album, beginning in New Orleans on February 25 and running through April 14 in Houston. See all dates below.
There’s an NYC show at Music Hall of Williamsburg on March 5, and ahead of the tour, Hurray for the Riff Raff will perform at the 2023 edition of Brooklyn Folk Fest on November 12. Tickets for all new dates go on sale Friday, November 10 at 10 AM local time, with an artist presale starting at 11 AM today (11/9).
HURRAY FOR THE RIFF RAFF – THE PAST IS STILL ALIVE TRACKLIST
Alibi
Buffalo
Hawkmoon
Colossus of Roads
Snake Plant (The Past Is Still Alive)
Vetiver
Hourglass
Dynamo
The World Is Dangerous
Ogallala
Kiko Forever
HURRAY FOR THE RIFF RAFF: 2023-2024 TOUR DATES
11/12 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Folk Fest
2/25 – New Orleans, LA – Tipitina’s
2/27 – Atlanta, GA – Masquerade (Hell Stage)
2/28 – Durham, NC – Motorco Music Hall
2/29 – Washington, DC – Atlantis
3/1 – Philadelphia, PA – Foundry
3/3 – Woodstock, NY – Levon Helm Studios
3/5 – Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg
3/6 – Boston, MA – Sinclair
3/9 – Burlington, VT – Higher Ground
3/10 – Toronto, ON – Great Hall
3/12 – Columbus, OH – Skully’s
3/14 – Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall
3/15 – Saint. Paul, MN – Amsterdam Bar & Hall
3/21-3/24 – Knoxville, TN – Big Ears Festival
3/28 – Portland, OR – Aladdin Theater
3/30 – Seattle, WA – Neumos
4/1 – San Francisco, CA – August Hall
4/2 – Sacramento, CA – Harlow’s
4/4 – San Diego, CA – Voodoo Room
4/5 – Los Angeles, CA – Belasco
4/6 – Pioneertown, CA – Pappy & Harriet’s
4/7 – Phoenix, AZ – Valley Bar
4/9 – Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge
4/10 – Denver, CO – Larimer Lounge
4/12 – Fort Worth, TX – Tulips
4/13 – Austin, TX – 3TEN
4/14 – Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall
5/10 – Dublin, IE – Button Factory
5/11 – Manchester, UK – Deaf Institute
5/12 – Glasgow, UK – Mono
5/14 – Leeds, UK – Brudenell Social Club
5/15 – Birmingham, UK – Castle & Falcon
5/16 – Bristol, UK – Strange Brew
5/17 – London, UK – Electric Brixton
5/19 – Paris, FR – La Maroquinerie
5/20 – Brussels, BE – Botanique
5/21 – Amsterdam, NE – Tolhuistuin
5/23 – Berlin, DE – Privatclub