REVIEW: Basia Bulat - Heart Of My Own

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Basia Bulat - Heart Of My Own

Release Date: January 26th, 2010
Label: Secret City Records









BRANDON RAE:

Basia Bulat tip-toed onto the music scene a few years ago with absolute humility. Her debut LP preferred the cozy candlelit bedroom to the social gathering scene. The words were delicate. The tone was pastel. The voice was innocent. Oh, My Darling was a beautiful potpourri of suppressed emotion. It left me with both satisfaction and dubiety; A toast to timidness, a prayer for progression.

Heart Of My Own is the “coming out” affair I had deeply anticipated.

The Canadian singer-songwriter I fell in love with years ago happily broke her training wheels into pieces. Her sophomore effort is a liberating collection of scintillating spontaneity. The decision to break out brings forth a larger supporting cast. This young lady who mostly kept things personal years ago has welcomed more of everything; Strings, horns, percussion, and background vocals to generate a sound that’s as refreshing as it is joyously triumphant.

Opening track “Go On” is a fine representation of Basia’s personal emancipation. The calm acoustic strings grab onto the combative drum line, ascending into a flurry of strings and sharp keys. Basia adapts to the storm brilliantly with this newfound relentlessness. It showcases a new color in her palette while proving that she offers a well-balanced arrangement. First single “Gold Rush” encompasses an aggressive background with a vulnerable center, brilliantly blending a mosaic of sincere feelings.

This is not to say that Bulat has exiled herself from that candlelit bedroom. A quick ear to the gentle “Sparrow” or the profound poignancy of “Sugar And Spice” comforts a demographic that was attached to her early innocence. Heart Of My Own is wonderfully crafted, spreading her catalog of moods around to maintain a fresh listen from beginning to end.

Her voice may forever tremble, but Basia Bulat finally stands tall.

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