Remember the ’80s, as those late-night commercials ask when trying to sell you compilations of early MTV-friendly hits? Now you can hear it again fresh, thanks to former Sydney, Australia, now Boston, Massachusetts, resident Betty Who. She provides 15 minutes of old school synth pop on four songs on EP The Movement. Three of the four songs are highly danceable and the fourth (“Right Here”) wallows in dry ice fog atmospherics that suggest long, languid love.
Betty Who enjoys a reputation as an infectious live performer, but these productions reveal she’s equally at home in the studio. She may not be trying to set the world on fire and these songs coo more than scream, but Betty Who is clearly out for a good time. Part Cyndi Lauper, part New Romantics, Betty Who just wants to have fun in the New World. This may have been done before, but doing it again can be just as fun.