“In the Night“
from the album Oh, My Darling
2008
iTunes
Midwestern friends: Basia Bulat plays Schubas in Chicago tonight, the High Noon Saloon in Madison on Friday, and 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis on Saturday.
Toronto-born chanteuse Basia Bulat began tickling the ivories at the early age of three, and also became skilled at playing the autoharp, guitar, flute, and sax. The porcelain-faced blonde went on to spend time in both London, Ontario and Montreal, honing her vocal chops alongside her brother, Bobby, who also plays drums in Bulat’s band. A self-released eponymous EP arrived in 2005, while shows with the likes of Final Fantasy, Patrick Watson, Sondre Lerche and Loney, Dear followed into the next year. Bulat’s major label LP, Oh, My Darling, arrived in the States on Tuesday via Rough Trade.
Oh, My Darling‘s lucky thirteen tracks showcase Bulat’s soothing, throaty voice and her dead-on aptitude for poignant, classic songwriting. From gracefully sad to hopeful and joyous, she exudes an earthy, organic quality to the music’s mystic, Phil Spector-like backbone. From the rollicking and uplifting nature of “In the Night” and “Before I Knew,” a hootenanny of delicate ukulele, handclaps and sunny harmonies to the wistful acoustic plucks of “Little Waltz,” this angel voiced crooner simultaneously breaks and heals your cold, cold heart.
Basia Bulat speaks French, Spanish and Polish. “The way I practiced those languages was by listening to music,” Bulat says. “I listened to a lot of Jacques Brel, and a friend of mine gave me some records of Quebec ‘chansons’ [French for ‘songs’] to help me practice my French. My Spanish teachers told me to seek out Violeta Parra and Silvio Rodriguez, as well as Joan Manuel Serrat.”