Daily Dose: Hurray for the Riff Raff, “Alibi”
Photo by Tommy Kha
Daily Dose is your daily source for the song you absolutely, positively need to hear every day. Curated by the Paste Music Team. Today’s installment features “Alibi” by Hurray for the Riff Raff.
Ever since they put out Life On Earth last February, I’ve been holding my breath over when Hurray for the Riff Raff would return with their next chapter. Now, the time has finally come. The Past is Still Alive finds Alynda Segarra teaming up with producer Brad Cook and peers Conor Oberst, Hand Habits, Anjimile, S.G. Goodman and others. The new LP is primed to include everything from Eileen Myles’ writing to relics of railroad culture, and lead single “Alibi” immediately establishes itself as one of the best country tracks of 2023 thus far.
Segarra’s vocals arrive with a pensive twang worn-in and worn-out, as they mine for common ground, for plain-spoken understanding with someone whose days are numbered. “You know that time can take you for a ride, can take you by surprise,” they sing. “Maybe you’ll roll snake eyes. Baby tell me why you gotta play your luck. Two aces, call your bluff. I love you very much, and all that other stuff.” The whole record was recorded a month after Segarra lost their father, and “Alibi” arrives as a gut-wrenching portrait of memory, addiction, loss and distance between kin.
