Oh, My Darling : Basia Bulat : Review : Rolling Stone

It's rare for a Canadian artist who is part of Arcade Fire's circle to remain unnoticed in the U.S. indie scene, but Basia Bulat, who recorded this debut at the band's church studio with its co-producer, Howard Bilerman, has been coasting under the radar so far. The twenty-four-year-old singer-songwriter writes acoustic-guitar-based folk songs built around dramatic crests that highlight her trembling voice. There are traces of Kimya Dawson's childlike simplicity and Joanna Newsom's jazzy vocals here, but Oh, My Darling has a Little House on the Prairie vibe that occasionally verges on quaint. And aside from the bright hand-clap-led hoedown "I Was a Daughter" and the energetically strummed "In the Night," too many tracks keep on the quiet side. But when a circular piano line locks in with the string section on "Snakes and Ladders" and Bulat sings about "the way we come undone," the darkness lurking beneath her pretty melodies finally finds its voice.