Thursday, February 4th 2010

By unknown

Canadian singer and songwriter, Basia Bulat has a lot going for her. She’s talented; she’s beautiful and amazingly down-to-earth. Her debut album, Oh, My Darling, released in 2007, was met with an array of positive reviews. It was even short-listed for the prestigious Polaris Music Prize, an award that recognizes the best full-length Canadian album of the year. She released her second studio album, Heart Of My Own on January 26, and is currently preparing to launch her continent-wide tour.

“It starts tomorrow, pretty much. Well, it’s basically already started,” Bulat explained on Monday.  “Today is my one day off before it continues. It’s going to be great. It’s been so long since I’ve played in Canada and it’s going to be really fun, I’m really excited,” she said enthusiastically over the phone. Bulat just arrived back from Europe and will be touring Canada and the United States through February and March.

Music has always been a fundamental part of Bulat’s life and her talent was evident at a young age, “I’ve been playing music all my life. I’ve been playing piano since I was three, and it’s just what I’ve always done.” When asked if she was living the dream, she laughed and said, “It’s my dream. It’s not necessarily the dream or anyone else’s dream, but I’m certainly grateful that it’s what I get to do.”

There was always some idea in Bulat’s mind that she would be playing music, perhaps not expecting that she would achieve the success that she has, “It’s not something you can really plan or expect. I certainly had the dreams or would daydream about being able to play music as a living, but I knew I would play music whether or not it would make me a living.”

As a musician Bulat has been extremely successful thus far in her career. Oh, My Darling may have lost to Caribou’s Andorra for the 2008 Polaris Prize, but Bulat was more than happy to just be nominated. Her album was competing alongside other albums like Stars’ In Our Bedroom After The War and Reunion Tour by the Weakerthans.  About her nomination she humbly stated that she was, “very honoured and very surprised.”

While another artist might be a sore loser, Bulat kindly said, “I’m pleased that the album that did win, won. I’m certainly not a competitive person and I thought all the albums that were nominated were great and a lot of albums that didn’t get nominated were great.” Are you in love with her yet?

When asked whether she felt pressure after the success of her first album, she gave advice that translates into all walks of life, not solely music: “I think that most of the pressure was really just coming from myself and I think you are your own worst critic. I think that the positive of it though is that you can leave all of that at the studio door when you’re going in or you try to. It’s important to try and assess what’s going on in your head before you get in there and try not to think about it too much when you’re actually working and just think about what kind of music you want to make.”

Upon asking her for some music suggestions, Bulat got very excited and had many recommendations for Andy readers, particularly the American one-man band, Abner Jay: “He’s amazing. There’s a compilation that came out this past year called The True Story of Abner Jay and I think it’s one of my favourite records from last year and one of my favourites ever. I know it’s kinda still new, I’m still getting to know it, it’s only been around for maybe half the year but it’s so great so I recommend that everybody listen to that.”

So, what can we expect from Ms. Bulat in the future? There’s no end in sight for this talented musician. “I’ve always got plans. I’ve always got tricks up my sleeve. I’ve already got ideas for a record, a couple of records, actually.” The world will be anxiously waiting, even if her latest album just came out a mere week ago.

Basia Bulat will be serenading Hamiltonians at The Casbah on Sunday, Feb. 7 at 8p.m. If you’re a fan of pop-infused folk and elegant songwriting, the show will be more than worth your while.

•Roxanne Hathway-Baxter