Basia Bulat preview

Basia Bulat
Vic Theatre, Chicago
Friday, May 9, 2008

The first strums of Basia Bulat’s autoharp on “In The Night,” the first single from the Canadian songstress’ Rough Trade debut, immediately conjure Catherine O’Hara’s free-spirited folkie Mickey Crabbe in 2003’s A Mighty Wind. Fortunately, the rambunctious “In The Night” is light years away from the mockumentary’s deer-in-the-headlights fare.

Recorded at Montreal’s Hotel2Tango studio, Oh, My Darling was originally meant to merely document the collegiate good times the doe-eyed singer-songwriter and her musically inclined friends were having (Bulat funded the project with her student loans), but studio engineer and co-owner Howard Bilerman, smitten with the songs, went to bat for the 24-year-old, which finally resulted in a deal with Rough Trade.

And the heart easily latches on to Bulat’s 13 breathy tracks. From the opening, blink-or-you’ll-miss-it “Before I Knew” to the Jane Austen dance sequence of “Little Waltz” and the percussive bossa nova of “Why Can’t It Be Mine,” the album spiritedly masks a quiet yearning. As the closing notes of “A Secret” fade out, the listener is overcome with a feeling mimicking the satisfaction left by finishing a deeply moving book or polishing off the moistest slice of homemade yellow cake.

Devotchka headline.

— Janine Schaults

Click here to download “In The Night.”

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly