Watching Basia Bulat onstage, you can’t help but feel that her throaty alto was made for the resonance of the West End. She has this energy, present and exuberant that’s perfect for this sort of listening room.
On this tour, supporting her second album Heart of My Own, she’s accompanied by her brother, Bobby, on percussion and Allison Stewart on backing vocals and viola. (Sadly absent was Holly Rancher. Where in the world is Holly Rancher? Better check her blog to find out.)
Bobby matched his sister’s exuberance and Alison provided the stoic reserve that both she and Holly are known for (some people find this off-putting, but I’ve always felt it balances out Basia’s energy perfectly).
Basia mixed up songs from her first and second album, sitting down at the piano for “Snakes and Ladders” and picking up a 95-year-old autoharp to replicate the distinctive sound the instrument lends to the album version of “The Shore.”
Her instruments, she said, were threatening to leave her if she ever toured in the winter again, the cold temperatures messing up their delicate constitutions.
There was a mini-set of three songs sung solo accompanied only buy Basia on guitar, all falling under the category of “sad bastard,” according to Basia. “Are you depressed yet? Maybe this next one will do it.”
She sung a Polish-language folk song; she sang an acapella spiritual, accompanied by her stomping cowboy boots.
The effortlessness of her presence, her voice, and her songs is what’s so captivating. The songs she writes feel like they’re as old as the world itself, even as she’s so young and fresh-faced.
BLOCKS recording artist Katie Stelmanis kicked off the show with a set of brash and bold songs accompanied by piano and keyboard.