Archive for the ‘Basia Bulat’ Category
Basia Bulat – Oh, My Darling Review
I’ve heard so much about Basia Bulat from our fellow Canadian bloggers. They absolutely LOVE her. (Rob from London, On Burgeoning Metropolis wasn’t too impressed that I haven’t listened to her yet) I think I’ve read so much about her I actually knew that her name is pronounced Bay-sha. So why did I never bother to listen to? Who knows?
Anyway, I’m reviewing her album Oh, My Darling in celebrating and ranking my top 10 on the shortlist for the Polaris Music Prize, a big independent achievement. Oh, My Darling was released on April of 2007 so it’s a long time since it’s been released. It got a modest review from Pitchfork which disappointed a lot of Canadian bloggers.
The album starts off with “Before I Knew” and I almost fell in love. I believe she’s using an autoharp then sounds brilliant. I think it’s still my favorite song off the album. I would also like to point out that her voice surprised me. I guess in my mind after looking at her photo/album cover it gives me the idea that she has a more modest voice. Lesson learned: never judge an album by its cover.
Basia Bulat is great in her own right, she has an amazing voice and while I’ll call this an above average album, considering her genre, it’s hard to pick out where she stands out among the rest. It’s still great music though and it’s more of finding the right mood.
She’s definitely very talented but I don’t think this album fulfils her potential after listening through the album a few times. It’s good but I feel like everything could be that much musically and lyrically.
Tone may be a big factor, it’s a very soft and mellow tone and I’m generally the impatient type. Maybe’s it’s a personal thing or the fact that I’ve been spammed and e-mailed with hundreds of singer songwriters of the pop-folk genre that I’ve soured a great deal on due to the vast amount of artists.
Still a solid album. It’s one of those albums that doesn’t quite grab instantly but I can understand once the effort is there to let the album take over, I start liking the album more and more. At this point it’s still in it’s early stages, maybe a month or two from now that might be different.
Rating: 3.9 out of 5
Maybe I’ve taken up too much of a negative tone but I do like the album more then quite a few of the other releases on the shortlist. I don’t want to start rewriting the review.
Here are other reviews by bloggers from other Canadian blogs:
Rob from London…(it’s too long) listed it as his #14 album of 2007.
HeroHill was singing high praises.
Lycanthropy listed it as #23
(gave up my search… hard to find)
Mike’s For the “Records” listed it as one of his favorite records of ’07 but unranked.
Just so you’re keeping tabs on what my list looks like so far: (Shad and Kathleen Edwards to come!):
(with links to the reviews)
1. Two Hours Traffic – Little Jabs
2. Black Mountain – Into The Future
3. Holy Fuck – LP
4. Caribou – Andorra
5. Basia Bulat – Oh, My Darling
6. The Weakerthans – Reunion Tour
7. Plants and Animals – Parc Avenue
8. Stars – In Our Bedroom After The War (not a review at all, opted to ignore it)
I subconsciouly rated them based in order of the score I gave. Wow.
