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Basia Bulat – L’Astral – Friday, February 12th

February 13, 2010 in Show Reviews

To promote her new album, entitled Heart of My Own to her fans in Montreal, Basia Bulat played an incredible show at L’Astral Friday night. She was accompanied by Leif Vollebekk, a singer-songwriter native to Montreal who serenaded the crowd with his guitar driven folk ballads. It was a night of beautiful music…and perfect teeth.

Leif Vollebekk, a charming, rather handsome man took the stage to get things started. He quickly put the crowd into a sort of peaceful bliss with his folky, acoustic tunes. Many from the crowd felt so comfortable and at ease during his set that they sat on the floor, adding to the intimacy. Leif’s multi-instrumental talent was a wonder to watch, as he effortlessly breezed through songs playing the harmonica, guitar and violin. According to Leif, he likes to ’steal songs’, or rather write songs after others that have inspired him, such as Lou Reed’s “Berlin”. Leif ended his set with a song that featured his expert violin looping as the crowd treated him to a generous round of applause.

When Basia Bulat took the stage she instantly captured the hearts of the audience with her lovable and adorable personality. She opened the show with “Heart of my Own”, a song off of her new album with the same name. Both Basia and her violin player, Alice in Wonderland, had a few technical difficulties, with Basia breaking a guitar string (which only happens in Montreal apparently!) and the violin refusing to stay in tune. Nevertheless they both kept playing with huge smiles on their faces and laughing away. Basia pulled out her ukulele for “Before I Knew”, which had the entire audience clapping and singing along. “In The Night” was an irresistible, foot-stomper that got the whole audience dancing. After her apparent last song, Basia quickly hurried back to the stage to perform another three songs for the encore to the delight of the crowd. “I Was a Daughter” was especially well received and clearly a fan-favorite, but the highlight of the night was definitely the last song. She performed an all on her own without using a microphone, only her voice and both her hands and feet to clap and stomp the beat. The power of the bare human voice is sometimes overwhelming, and the song was almost tear-jerking as the strength of her voice shone through and took over.

Along with Leif, Basia is an incredible multi-instrumentalist. Her voice is completely unique, with its confident quiver and warm, almost velvety quality to it. Live, it is flawless, and surprisingly strong considering her almost fragile and delicate appearance. Not only does she have incredible vocal talents, but she is a master of rare instruments such as the auto-harp, a hammered harp and the ukulele. Basia’s love for performing is clear, and her constant smiling and laughing is extremely contagious. – Amelia Robitaille