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Basia Bulat: Darling Buds

Canadians have a reputation for affability, and first-generation singer/songwriter Basia Bulat, the daughter of a Polish music teacher, is no exception. But that doesn’t mean roiling angst and quiet desperation don’t lick at the edges of Bulat’s debut album, Oh, My Darling (Rough Trade), in spite of its lighthearted feel and the sunny undulations of her golden vocals. According to Bulat, Darling emerges from the quiet hurts suffered when native sweetness brushes up against harsh reality. She recalls a moment when her childhood love of oldies radio was ridiculed by classmates.

“All the kids were into the song ‘Good Vibrations,’ and I thought they were talking about the Beach Boys,” says Bulat on a patio outside the San Francisco venue where she’s performing. “But they were talking about Marky Mark And The Funky Bunch, and I was ostracized. The girl who came to my birthday party and gave me the tape told me I was a big loser for not knowing who they were … There’s darkness on this record! Darkness!”

Yet you wouldn’t know it from sitting down with the unfailingly amiable Bulat. You can see why her brother Bobby and friends from college in London, Ontario, dropped everything to tour as her backing band. Darling, an infectious sing-along album, began as a memento of her carefree collegiate days playing music with pals and was financed with student loans she planned on putting toward a master’s degree in literature. Opening with the spare, rousing handclaps and ukulele of “Before I Knew,” Darling takes unexpected turns, tangling with moody minor chords and bristling flamenco rhythms (“I Was A Daughter”), evocatively weaving together bongos, piano and violin (“December”) and embarking on jubilant autoharp sprees (“In The Night”).

All that covert oldies-radio listening—combined with experience on upright bass, saxophone and flute via the school orchestra—found its way onto Darling, which was tracked at the lauded Hotel 2 Tango studio in Montreal, where Arcade Fire and Godspeed You! Black Emperor have recorded. Since Bulat signed to Rough Trade last year, it’s been a strange upward trajectory for the singer/songwriter, who describes her music as personal and introverted.

Bulat’s brother and bandmates slowly drift onto the patio and surround her protectively, joking about junk-food binges at American gas stations. Bulat’s friends pushed her to perform and later sold her first demo at her shows; now they’re willing to embark on 18-hour drives to fill out her songs live with all the close-knit joy of a bedroom jam session. Despite her affinity for genius hermits like Emily Dickinson, Bulat makes music with a communal purpose.

“Even though my record has my name on it and they’re my songs, it’s harder for me to play solo,” she says. “It gets lonely. I like playing with a band.”

—Kimberly Chun