#72 basia bulat – in the night

for a 24 year old, canadian basia bulat sure sounds like she’s been playing a lifetime of music, and indeed it shows when you realize she’s been picking up instruments from the age of three, from guitar to banjo and sax to the upright bass in high school. i’ve always wished my own parents had forced me to learn music when i was young, but i guess that’s how i’ve ended up on this side of it, writing rather than making music, but enjoying it all the same. for basia, it was the people she met and the places she’s been along the way that really made a difference. her debut album oh, my darling, out now on rough trade, has its roots in her early recordings at the mighty hotel 2 tango, the studio that birthed the whole movement of constellation bands like a silver mt. zion. the music that’s emerged from those recordings is frantic and effervescent, with songs like “in the night” capturing a sense of breathless urgency rivaled only by the strength of her voice that’s both uplifting and intimate.

mp3: basia bulat – in the night