Hurray For The Riff Raff The Navigator
Album stream , Mar 03, 2017

"The Navigator might be full of site-specific anger and yearning, but like its predecessors, it is incredibly easy on the ear. The songs just flow--slinky, sad or elegant in their own ways."

100 % The Observer (UK)

"Her boozy, morning-after croon is still gorgeous, but now there’s elements of Puerto Rican bomba and salsa, son cubano, doo-wop, and even the spoken-word poetry of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe she haunted as a teen. Her band has gone through a variety of lineups, but this one feels like a clean slate."

81 % Pitchfork

"The Navigator knows in which direction to head. Hurray indeed."

80 % Record Collector

"Their jaunty Americana morphs from something lovely into something utterly essential."

80 % New Musical Express (NME)

"A major leap forward for an artist whose previous work now seems like a warm-up for the dizzying heights The Navigator strives for, and often achieves."

80 % American Songwriter

"There’s a lot to take in, but it’s worth the effort."

80 % The Guardian

"Certainly, this album feels richer than previous Hurray for the Riff Raff records, which all benefitted from the stripped-down aesthetic that often signifies authenticity in Americana, but this broadening of Segarra's scope hardly constitutes pandering."

80 % AllMusic

"Augmenting her folksy troubadour style with Latin percussion and an acappella group for that streetcorner-symphony flavour, she effectively expands the notion of Americana to accommodate another cultural strain alongside the usual blues and country influences."

80 % The Independent (UK)

"The rhythms never let up, no matter how intimate the material, suggesting the pulsating cadences of city life."

80 % PopMatters

"[Navita] charts her course through destruction, indifference and the city sounds: doo wop, Lou Reed-y R&R, even indie rock. It's not until she stares clear-eyed at those closest to her that the way is clear: she's to honor her Latin and Caribbean roots in story and sound. [Apr 2017, p.96]"

80 % Mojo

"The Navigator evocatively captures the essence of the streets of New York's increasingly gentrified outer boroughs."

80 % Slant Magazine

"The question of identity is touched upon throughout the songs here (national, political, gender), but in terms of musical identity, Hurray for the Riff Raff know exactly who they are."

80 % The Skinny

"As an album, The Navigator’s musicality--both the melodic nature of its songs and its musical-like structure--highlight Segarra’s raw talent and growth as an artist. But if she set The Navigator to stage, like a slightly rockist sequel to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In The Heights, she might have even greater impact and success."

77 % Paste Magazine

"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."

70 % Under The Radar

"These are not new themes, but Segarra's songs are a complex thicket of emotions, made traversable by her ability to craft a maxim, a hook and a bridge to a chorus."

70 % Exclaim

"Segarra taps into lamenting barroom country previously explored on "Life to Save," but uses the lightning-fast drumming of Puerto Rican plena to address the often physical struggle to protect the sanctity of any homeland on "Rican Beach.""

67 % Austin Chronicle