Alison Tucker -- Where You Used To Be
Alison Tucker guides us through life's beginnings and endings with her confident return to music, Where You Used to Be
Austin's Alison Tucker has returned to music after some time away with her contemplative Where You Used To Be. It's not exactly a triumphant return, since the album finds Tucker navigating divorce and middle age. While there are plenty of songs here that ruminate on those major changes, Where You Used to Be shines brightest when tackling new phases of life.
The album kicks off with "New Lover," a tango with sultry bass line that features a mature confidence in entering a new relationship. This song isn't just about making your new partner's ex mad with jealousy – or driving your new partner crazy with your sex appeal. It's about knowing yourself and owning your confidence.
Meanwhile, "More Time" is a recognition of mortality and passage of time that'll make you want to call your mom. The song's smooth grooves and Tucker's self-assured delivery belie the primal need in the song: to defy mortality itself, and to question what happens when we go. Here, Tucker asks us to appreciate the trees that make up the whole forest.
"Long Sleeves" similarly displays Tucker's empathy. It's a story song about an abusive relationship that is told with gentle grace, that examines why it can be so hard to leave even when things are miserable. By the time Tucker leaves us off with "Carousel of Colors," which we premiered, she's guided us through nearly all the endings and beginnings a life can offer – and assures us that we'll get through them since they happen no matter what.
