A strong third album from the rootsy Canadian “Appalachian” artist from New Orleans showing raw emotion and a degree of post-breakup positivity.
As you listen to each song on Bella White’s new studio album you feel that she’s not only telling a story but also exploring every aspect and nuance of that story. Moving on from a relationship is a complicated and draining business and White uses each of these charming, pointed songs to explore her feelings. The initial impression is that this record cathartically takes her to a new place, one she’s more confident about and more comfortable with. Isabel Farley White, to give her full name, hails from Calgary, Alberta although to listen you would put her somewhere in the mountains of Appalachia. She relocated from Vancouver Island to New Orleans a few years ago and is now well established in the local music scene. Her first album Just Like Leaving was self released in 2020 and then later reissued by Rounder Records. Following up with Among Other Things in 2023 this latest is her third full length album.
This album was recorded in a shotgun house along the Mississippi River. For those of us unfamiliar with this type of abode, research reveals that a shotgun house is a narrow rectangular domestic residence, usually no more than about 12 feet wide, rooms arranged one behind the other, doors at each end of the house. It was the most popular style of house in the Southern US from the end of the Civil War through to the 1920s and possibly named because the linear design allowed a bullet to travel from front to back unobstructed. Other explanations are available. Suffice to say, it is a simple, not so bijou environment and this contributes to and supports the homespun feel of the record. The album is simple in execution yet is more powerful for that, White’s voice suiting the emotional journey perfectly, variously plaintiff, raw and sweet in parts, cracking and breaking in others.
The first track, Trouble, initiates the gentle, laid-back vibe and introduces White’s story. “Well, there’s no such thing that I’ve ever seen/ That could outrun all the trouble that you gave to me”. Reflecting on the impact of this now ended relationship consumes us for the next 41 minutes, questioning her partner, questioning herself, reassuring us or maybe and more importantly reassuring herself, that yes, she really is okay. The pedal steel swirls in the background, the snare provides a resonant backbeat, the sympathetic vibration of the wooden shotgun structure adds atmosphere and depth.
Stuff is the most recent single and is accompanied by a video directed by Rett Rogers. White’s explanation encapsulates the feeling she is trying to create in this track and on the album generally. “I was so excited to make this video and wanted to do this song visual justice. ‘Stuff’ feels very cathartic for me to perform and I wanted the video to feel the same way. Standing in the pouring rain while wearing a wedding dress and practically destroying it felt very fitting for this song on self- discovery for forward momentum. I think the wide sweeping shots of the Louisiana Bayou fit so well with the swooping pedal steel. It felt right to make this video in the city I’ve been living in for the past three years”. Throughout, White demonstrates a genuine ability to align her vocal prowess with the emotional effect she is looking to portray whilst offering just the right degree of melodic variation. Dream Song is a perfect example of this. “And Then You Show Me / And then you hold me so close/ I think that you know me”, and then she pauses, controlling and suspending the reality of the unhappiness she is feeling.
Another highlight is False Start, more upbeat musically, the band really helping to push the song along and support the more positive message. The brief instrumental pause after “Drift apart and hope it was not a false start” is a lovely touch that gives the song definition and structure. The realisation that appears in the final track, Without Making A Sound, that she doesn’t want her partner around anymore pulls the album together thematically. As she sees a “sign in the weather” she realises now is the time to quietly exit this relationship. “Can I leave without making a sound’ she asks yet the intent is clear and this feels a little rhetorical. The record was co produced by White and Ross Farbe (Esther Rose, Drugdealer) and was made with her close-knit circle of collaborators. The instrumentation and arrangements support the rootsy feel with pedal steel and fiddle adding depth to the drums, bass and guitar.
It’s hard to disentangle the individual project from the artist overall and maybe it’s not right to attempt this. This record feels like White processing an experience, an episode in her life and as in her previous albums, this illustrates her considerable ability as an artist to relate it to a wider audience. White has bravely and doggedly drilled into all the corners of her emotional psyche, teasing out the certainties and the doubts and tried to determine where, after this experience, she is left. White’s voice alone makes this a very appealing record. From the initial track her vocal signposts the emotions which are front and centre in the lyrics. And the uncomplicated lyrics take us right where she needs us to be.This is an excellent album from a relatively new artist and it continues the quality work already witnessed on her two previous albums.
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