The reaction to Tall Tall Shadow (Secret City), Basia Bulat’s third full-length, has been exceedingly positive, a happy circumstance for a performer who made her thus-far moderate fame on the folk singer/songwriter circuit and is now looking to switch things up. Bulat’s first two albums, adept enough affairs, traded mostly in the light arrangements and soft dynamics of contemporary folk music. If her talents extend beyond many of her peers (notably her staggering facility on a wide range of stringed instruments from the dulcimer to the charango), her aesthetic palette as presented on her first two albums was largely traditional. Tall Tall Shadow, by contrast, opens with the stomping, gradual crescendo of the title track, an immediate announcement of increasing speed and volume that sustains for the rest of the record. It’s a sonic gamble for Bulat, who for the first time finds herself pushing her aesthetics into more energetic territory. Still, the song structures and modes are of a piece with her previous releases, making Tall Tall Shadow a furtherance rather than a divergence from her previous work. Bulat will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our new feature on her.
Bulat: Kate Beaton is my favourite comics artist. Dude Watchin’ With The Brontes makes me laugh just thinking about it; I don’t even need to re-read it. Beaton’s comics tread lots of diverse territory. She’s known for her well-researched history and English-literature comics, but my favourites of hers might be the personal ones that depict moments between herself and her parents. Those are done quickly, in sketches, and I think it’s the feeling of immediacy (whether real or something I’ve imagined) that is what I find most endearing about them. Beaton also has a fantastic book that came out last year, called Hark, A Vagrant!, and I highly recommend it.
Video after the jump.
