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Product details
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Track Listings
| 1. Go On |
| 2. Run |
| 3. Sugar And Spice |
| 4. Gold Rush |
| 5. Heart Of My Own |
| 6. Sparrow |
| 7. If Only You |
| 8. I'm Forgetting Everyone |
| 9. Shore, The |
| 10. Once More For The Dollhouse |
| 11. Walk You Down |
| 12. If It Rains |
| 13. Secret, A |
Product Description
Review
Given the involvement of Howard Bilerman (who has worked with Arcade Fire among others, and also helmed Oh, My Darling), these embellishments shouldn’t come as a surprise. That Bulat is a fine (sometimes disarmingly so) singer is never in doubt; neither is the quality of the numerous backing players that bolster these tracks. As a songwriter, she proffers tunes both sweetly melancholic and of a laudable optimism, though the impression given at various stages of this record is that of an artist slightly adrift – edges smoothed over; songs lacking requisite space to breathe and flourish.
The restrained likes of Sparrow or I’m Forgetting Everyone exude hushed, confessional intimacy, complementing her silky tones perfectly. Elsewhere, results range from the needlessly crowded to the defiantly successful, as the one-two of Gold Rush and the title track demonstrate. There’s a decent song somewhere in the former, buried among swathes of violin, marching drums and countless auxiliary instruments, but it’s in the latter she finally sounds at ease: gentle cavalcades of folksy instrumentation firmly behind her.
This is the frustrating thing about Heart of My Own. When it’s good, it’s fantastic, endearing stuff, from a singer exhibiting no small amount of resolve (see her winsome re-imagining of The Strokes' Someday - Basia Bulat covering The Strokes’ Someday on YouTube - for ample evidence of this). As it stands, cumbersome arrangements and a tendency to coast weigh heavy – diluting the finished article from one of real, enduring merit to a patchy, only sporadically wonderful album. --James Skinner
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Customer Reviews
'Heart Of My Own' made my heart beat 20% faster!
The big rattling martial snare drum on 'Go On'
drives the guitar and fiddle laden arrangement
along with hugely energetic gusto! It's a cracking
beginning to a consumately conceived project.
Ms Bulat is a singer/songwriter of distinction
and considerable originality. Not quite country;
not quite folk; a little bit pagan; a whole
lot strangely unsettled and unsettling soul!
Her voice has a curiously dry but affecting quality;
warm around the edges with a gentle vibrato in the middle.
If you are fond of Arcade Fire you may also find
much to love in this vibrant, passionate music.
Crikey! 'Gold Rush' romps along at a fair old pace
(that snare drum again rattling away like the devil
snapping at her heels!) An energetic, inspiring
and uplifting anthem! The ribald harmonies create an
effect not unlike the commentary from a Greek chorus.
The chiming dulcimer; the fizzing strings; it's a
marvellously heady concoction. I loved every last moment!
Conversely 'Sparrow' is a fragile and perfectly formed
ditty of far more intimate proportions. Utterly charming.
If there was ever a place in the world for a ukelele it's right here.
More rip-roaring up-tempo mayhem is unleashed on 'If Only You'.
(Even the dodgy trumpets cannot drag the Diva down!)
Another stirring presentation and a wonderfully fluffed ending!
'The Shore' is a lovely composition. Full of gently jangling
textures (the magical tones of the dulcimer once more) and
probably the finest melody and most accomplished vocal
performance in the whole collection.
The gospel-like arrangement of final track 'If It Rains',
brings the album to an exhilarating conclusion.
I'm very, very glad I stumbled across it.
I'll take a risk in saying I think you'll like it too.
Highly Recommended.
This album is a wee gem . It gets off to a belter of a start in Go On (love the drumming on this one , her brother apparently) and some lovely fiddle.
The single Gold Rush keeps up the momentum . The only teeny criticism I have is that the acoustic version of Gold Rush on the "DUUMBO " Session on YouTube is even better , having dropped a slightly syrupy harmony part and it would have been nice to have that version as a bonus " track.
Gold Rush is followed by what for me is the stand out track , Heart of My own , which is one of those songs which, whilst being totally original at the same time has a character of timelessness and tradition.
For me these are the 3 strongest songs but it's all good and is happily free of the dead-hand of worthiness present in so much folk-music
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