Basia Bulat

One Liner: Florence & the Machine-lite

Poster Position: 22

Thoughts:  With the band name like that, I thought for sure this was going to be some world music, something odd, but instead this is more mainstream, and pretty darn good.  She's Canadian, and that is apparently just her real name.  I hear echos of Florence & the Machine and 10,000 Maniacs in this music, both of which appeal to me.  That Natalie Merchant voice-sound is good stuff.  The vibrato in her voice is a little affected at times, but overall I like this.  Although, a secretary from my office just walked into my office and, after helping me with something, asked me if I was listening to the Frozen soundtrack.  So maybe this isn't as cool as I thought?  Or maybe she just has bad taste?  Going to go with the latter.

Bulat's got four albums available on Spotify, 2008's Oh My Darling, 2010's Heart of My Own, 2013's Tall Tall Shadow, and 2016's Good Advice.  I think you can clearly hear the evolution of her sound over time, as the more recent two albums are superior to me than the early two.  Not a huge hit with a ton of listens anywhere in her list, but she has a handful of songs with more than a million streams, so she's also not a nobody.  Her most popular one is "Fool," from that most recent album, with 1.2 million streams.

Can't you hear Florence blasting a version of this?  The backing music isn't doing anything special, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't kind of jam out on one of my listens to this track. Simplicity can be nice too.  Her track with the most streams is "It Can't Be You," from the breakup album Tall Tall Shadow.  Here is a live version, but you'll get the gist.

Son of a gun that is a pretty version of the track.  Her voice is great in there.  And, because I am in love with the NPR Tiny Desk, here is one more video.

That hammered autoharp thing she is playing is badass.  Seems like the sound is worse than normal on this Tiny Desk.  I've also decided that she looks a little like Emma Stone, just with a slightly weaker jaw.  The tunes in that Tiny Desk are from her first two albums, so I'd prefer to hear the newer stuff, but that stuff is still nice.  I like her, and would likely go see her play if the schedule works out right.