IF YOU NEVER GO AWAY is an apt title for an artist recording their first full length solo album in just over a decade. There was a time when BettySoo was right up there in the upper echelons of the Austin music scene as a solo artist alongside songwriting icons like James McMurtry, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Chris Smither and Alejandro Escovedo. Two tracks into the comeback album and it is though this eminent musician has never been away. Mind you, she has been busy elsewhere. Class oozes from a measured record blending folk and rock with country sensibilities.
It helps that lead off track ‘What Do You Want From Me Now’ was also a single, not always reflective of an album’s best but in this case clearly reflective of the tone set. Thirteen tracks takes the album into above average content territory, likely on the basis of an artist with a pent up base of songs to share. Although, there is an outlier at the end when a James McMurtry song is covered with the acclaimed veteran duetting on ‘Gulf Road’, a minted version to seal a victorious return.
BettySoo was highly active as a solo performer between 2005 and 2014. Her Korean American background helped form a narrative distinct in the usual world of the archetypal Texas songwriter where any diversity tended to head in an Hispanic direction. The new album picks up where things were left off before other projects and diversions took over. Across the record, dream components curate a hugely crafted urbane sound. BettySoo commandeers control on a higher plane early on and rarely slips from the pedestal.
The other single released at the end of June sees the world of paper thin motel walls explored where you can’t help but listen in to the world of others. Such exposures can often ignite songwriting ideas and in this case the process led to ‘Light Up’. A rousing number infiltrated by bouts of brass.
Rather than peaking early, the pairing of two stellar tracks in the first half pave the way for others to shine in the afterglow. ‘Memento’ is the gem of the pack, rolling along in luxurious splendour spilling out many memorable lines including Why would I wanna know about a heart split in two’. Appealingly attractive and beautifully song, this is wonderful gift to fans of Americana music. This leads straight into the organ-laced ‘Lovering’ truly embedding the album’s effect.
Once in its groove, the pace takes more of a breather in tracks like the sleek and moody ‘Things Are Going to Get Worse’ and the slower feel to ‘What Would I Do’. The album reaches a state of maturity in ‘Human Echo’ and the vocals are expertly exposed in the late order ballad ‘Dreams’.
Twinning rock guitars with a soulful tinged voice propels IF YOU NEVER GO AWAY to the status of an album brimming with fruitful songs and housing the qualities of an established songwriting and performing talent. BettySoo wastes not a single inch of the platform given to announce a return. Austin Texas never ceases to churn out mighty music, and will always create a space for its finest masters to resume a specialised trade.
