Album Premiere: Sydney Wright

Years in the making and ever delayed by the detours of life and creative growth, Sydney Wright’s debut full-length amounts to a greatest-hits-so-far for the Austin pop polymath, whose lush, layered compositions are hallmarked by slow-burning verses erupting into gargantuan hooks.

The past 15 months have seen the loop-inducing vocalist, pianist, and guitarist parcel out a few singles that sound major league, specifically the captivating title track “Seiche” and magnificent “You Can Stay.” Her vocal delivery – patient, natural, and imbued with rich emotion – rings especially true on modern pop heartbreak such as “Let You Let Me Go.” The 11-song LP containing those cuts arrives on all platforms Friday following a long journey.

Some tracks on Seiche carbon date back to Wright’s teenage years in the small West Texas town of Snyder. In 2013, while sound engineering at a Denton bar, she struck up a conversation with Tony Rancich, owner of the vaunted Sonic Ranch Recording Studio, who brought her to his facility in Tornillo, and began developing her material with international producers Stefano Vieni and Alejandro Ponce. In 2015, she moved to Austin and continually retooled the recordings while performing both with a live band and as an impressive one-woman orbit of musical loops.

This summer, after dishing several singles that blipped the radar of regional radio, Wright nearly became roadkill when an inattentive motorist blasted into her while she was commuting on a rental scooter downtown. The hit-and-run left her with a head wound and broken bones in her arms, legs, and back. After six weeks and several surgeries to repair her body with rods and screws, Sydney reemerged with a performance at Austin music lounge Stay Gold.

“I probably shouldn’t have jumped back in so early, but it was so much fun,” Wright laughs. “I was tired of cancelling shows. I needed the normal moments – doing the things I did before my life changed a lot.

“In that same way, I’m kind of releasing this album this year in defiance,” she continues. “Maybe I should wait until the new year to push it, but I’ve decided, ‘No, it’s coming out this year!’ So here we are.”

Stream Seiche below before Wright’s album release show Friday at Cheer Up Charlies with Color Candy, That Girl Dre, and Skymomma.