On her 2008 debut album, Oh, My Darling, Basia Bulat painted lush landscapes with her orchestral folk-pop. Her songs brimmed with artful guitar, string and piano arrangements, creating an almost symphonic sound. On the Canadian singer-songwriter's follow-up, Heart of My Own, the pace is a little quicker, the violins a little rougher, and Bulat's vocals a little fiercer. It creates an image that's more wilderness than pastoral, more country than folk; along the way, it feels stripped-down while maintaining a variety of instruments and arrangements.
Before recording the album, Bulat and her band spent an influential week in Dawson City in the Yukon, and the title song appropriately evokes the vast expanse of the West. "Heart of My Own" bubbles with quiet intensity: Understated guitar and banjo, minute string arrangements, a dampened floor tom and distant multi-part vocal harmonies place the focus on Bulat's unwavering voice, a single powerful element in a beautiful but unforgiving landscape.
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