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Mar 13, 2017 Web Exclusive By Zach Hollwedel

Alynda Segarra, aka Hurray for the Riff Raff, returns to her Bronx roots in The Navigator. The album opens—on a track titled “Entrance” no less—with what sounds like the bustle of a subway train running through the tunnels of the NYC transit system. From these very few first seconds, it’s obvious that The Navigator promises to be an undoubtedly more metropolitan album than any of Riff Raff’s albums that preceded it. And Segarra continues the homage to New York throughout, openly embracing concrete and steel, as well as her Puerto Rican heritage, to a degree that she has not yet done so. Fans of the folk singer/songwriter’s bluegrass leanings—especially on her last album, the Appalachian-infused Small Town Heroes—might at first find the New York-inspired deviation a stark contrast to Segarra’s earlier discography. However, it doesn’t take long for the familiarity and comfort of Riff Raff to set in. By “Nothing’s Gonna Chang That Girl,” the album’s fifth track, it’s clear that The Navigator is as classic Segarra as anything she has done before. In fact, the record is proof positive that an artist is ever evolving, and change is never something to be feared. Her talent and prowess as a musician and artist remain proven, nay, reinforced, by the alternative direction she takes in The Navigator, and, while different from precedent, there is much to love in it for Hurray for the Riff Raff fans, both new and old. (www.hurrayfortheriffraff.com)

Author rating: 7/10