Album Review: Bella White, Just Like Leaving

Bella White’s music moves slowly, though that’s less a literal descriptor than a spiritual one. Even when the Calgary-born songwriter’s pulse quickens slightly ⎯ as on Just Like Leaving’s brisk opener “Gutted” ⎯ she retains a steely-eyed composure, a clarity of voice that prefers measure over dust-kicking frenzy. Songs about heartbreak and abandonment, small towns, Southern states and chasing luck, there’s little distinguishing Just Like Leaving from the decades of creaking bluegrass that inform it, a pointedly traditional record thankfully buoyed by White’s cutting lyrics. 

And though her conventional style could stand to be bent and twisted a bit, White is still capable of spinning magic from such worn and tattered music ⎯ the elliptical title track is far and away the record’s best, a haunting ballad that stings like a cold breeze amid all the balmy familiarity. The production is dry and unvarnished, each instrument crackling and swaying clearly, with White’s single-track voice occasionally lifted by a chorus of backing singers.

Just Like Leaving is an inquisitive but ultimately familiar record ⎯ bluegrass that toes the line of pastiche and finds a home somewhere on the other side, carried by a sharp songwriter and a warm and intuitive band.

Just Like Leaving was released September 25, 2020, with a re-release May 4, 2021 on Rounder Records.
Listen to it here.