| Drownedinsound |
 ‘Run’, the second track on A Heart of My Own, is wonderful; a waltzing procession of jangly guitars and see-saw string arpeggios which nail the stomach-churn and smile of difficult love. Male music fans of a certain disposition have a propensity to fall in love with female singers in the three-four minutes it takes for a perfect song to be sung, and for those who have had such an experience listening to Joanna Newsom or Scout Niblett, this track will elicit similar Technicolor daydreams. Rough Trade’s new discovery from Canada, Basia Bulat, shares the tumultuous reading of the heart and the baroque disposition of Newsom, but is tempered by the kitchen-sinkisms of folk. The drama that Bulat sees isn’t framed by surreal flights of fancy, it is happening everyday, wherever the people are. If there is a Canadian equivalent to the phrase ‘there’s nowt so queer as folk’, it’s a fair bet Basia Bulat believes it.
‘Run’ is the high-water mark in Bulat’s efforts to distil the extraordinary from the ordinary, the heartbreak-posturing of “If I ever found the cause of this sadness I know it would be, impossible to keep the vision against all of me” setting up the bold colours which lay beyond, and from there, we’re off. A brisk 1/4 time drags the listener around like an eager dance partner, never pausing or relenting, never putting a foot wrong. A Heart of My Own is at its best in these moments, when its vision of folk is allowed to sprout legs and just fucking run....full text |
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| Prefixmag |
Following her 2007 debut, Oh, My Darling, Basia Bulat’s gospel-folk reputation precedes her, but Bulat decimates any idea of a sophomore slump with a swift strum of her autoharp on Heart of My Own. Replete with the warbling vocals that we’ve come to know, Bulat builds on Oh, My Darling’s hopeful hollowness by burrowing deeper into the recesses of old-country sound and isolation -- isolation that came while on a year-long tour for Oh, My Darling, specifically by a few reflective days spent in the mountains of the Yukon.
Undoubtedly inspired by Bulat’s stay in Dawson City, the site of the Klondike Gold Rush in 1896, single “Gold Rush” begins with foreboding strings but quickly morphs into a rushing, Balkan-tinged track for which she did a DUMBO Session. “The Shore” mixes sparse, plucking instrumentals with the capacious nature of her voice and blends in to “Once More for the Dollhouse,” where Bulat asks simply, “Will we ever paint the walls?” The circular, music box–like hypnotics of “If it Rains” is washed away by the hollowness of the closing a capella track, “Hush.”...full text |
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| Allmusic |
| Written during a quick visit to the Yukon Territory, Heart of My Own jumps from sparse, intimate folk to lush Americana, with each song conjuring up images of the striking subarctic geography that inspired it. Basia Bulat was virtually unknown when she issued her debut album in 2007, and this follow-up effort (released after two years of heavy touring) paints her as a more self-assured, worldly songwriter. The shaking quality of her voice has been molded into a quick, informal vibrato, and producer Howard Bilerman -- the same man who produced 2007’s Oh, My Darling -- decorates her songs with rootsy arrangements, the most ornate of which feature percussion, multiple stringed instruments, horns, and piano. Calling Heart of My Own a loud album would be an overstatement; these songs may not be fragile, but they’re certainly far from expansive, with the most attention being paid to Bulat and her autoharp. Those who gravitated toward her debut will feel a similar pull to this album, though, which essentially reprises Oh, My Darling’s sound with slightly more confidence....full text |
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