Basia Bulat at Luminaire, London April 26th 2010 The Icelandic volcano has without doubt caused its fair share of problems for anyone trying to travel recently. Especially musicians from far away places on tour. Fortunately, nothing was stopping Basia Bulat from completing her European tour and London was lucky enough to have her arrive safe and sound and make it out to the Luminaire to promote her new album Heart Of My Own. Due to travel issues, Basia was lacking a few band members but she was happy to go down the acoustic route with her trusty autoharp and her ukulele, vocal friend, Holly Rancher. It was clear no ash cloud was going to stop these two ladies tonight.  The last time I had the pleasure of seeing Basia Bulat was in her native Canada in a beautiful Vancouver church so I was excited to see her again in my own homeland. When the petite, angelic blonde graced the stage and burst through ‘Run’ ‘In The Night’ and ‘Gold Rush with her velvety vocals, it felt like a warm, syrupy wave tumble all over us. This girl has a huge set of pipes that could blow anyone away and lyrics that could make you weep so it was no wonder the audience were completely dumbfounded for the rest of the night. Basia included a balanced mix of old album and new album with ‘If Only You,’ ‘Snakes & Ladders’ and a beautiful version of ‘The Shore’ while switching between guitar and autoharp. A unique, acoustic cover of The Strokes ‘Someday’ was also a welcome treat and the final encore went back to basics with just her voice, hand claps and foot stomps to bring out every passion and emotion from the very depths of her soul. Basia’s hypnotising voice and stripped down performance made for an intimate evening and sent us all on our way with hearts of our own. Photo and words: Lauren Keogh

Basia Bulat at Luminaire, London April 26th 2010

The Icelandic volcano has without doubt caused its fair share of problems for anyone trying to travel recently. Especially musicians from far away places on tour. Fortunately, nothing was stopping Basia Bulat from completing her European tour and London was lucky enough to have her arrive safe and sound and make it out to the Luminaire to promote her new album Heart Of My Own. Due to travel issues, Basia was lacking a few band members but she was happy to go down the acoustic route with her trusty autoharp and her ukulele, vocal friend, Holly Rancher. It was clear no ash cloud was going to stop these two ladies tonight. 

The last time I had the pleasure of seeing Basia Bulat was in her native Canada in a beautiful Vancouver church so I was excited to see her again in my own homeland. When the petite, angelic blonde graced the stage and burst through ‘Run’ ‘In The Night’ and ‘Gold Rush with her velvety vocals, it felt like a warm, syrupy wave tumble all over us. This girl has a huge set of pipes that could blow anyone away and lyrics that could make you weep so it was no wonder the audience were completely dumbfounded for the rest of the night.

Basia included a balanced mix of old album and new album with ‘If Only You,’ ‘Snakes & Ladders’ and a beautiful version of ‘The Shore’ while switching between guitar and autoharp. A unique, acoustic cover of The Strokes ‘Someday’ was also a welcome treat and the final encore went back to basics with just her voice, hand claps and foot stomps to bring out every passion and emotion from the very depths of her soul. Basia’s hypnotising voice and stripped down performance made for an intimate evening and sent us all on our way with hearts of our own.

Photo and words: Lauren Keogh