Basia Bulat
On Motherhood, and Sandwich Scold
via Secret City Records, Basia Bulat celebrates and reimagines her catalogue of songs, affixing 16 reworked and re-recorded tracks with string quartet arrangements composed by Owen Pallett, Paul Frith and Zou Zou Robidoux. Within these versions, moods and perspectives have shifted, and her confidence has blossomed. When Bulat chats with Exclaim!, the conversation is punctuated with laughter and, just like what fills each of Bulat’s records, warmth.
I played a show in Los Angeles at a great venue called Largo and the MC for the night was Bob Odenkirk, who is my hero. He actually wrote a comedy sketch for us to do together, where he was a singing instructor and I was the student. That was one of my favourite moments of my career.
Who’s a Canadian musician that should be more famous?
I’m going to be very biased and say my husband, who is going to put out a record under the name Wood Andrews (his name is Andrew Woods). It’s a country album that he’s just finishing now, so you’ll have to look out for it. I’m on the record, and [bassist] Ben Whiteley, who plays with me and the Weather Station and Julia Jacklin.
What was the first song you ever wrote?
I tried to audition for a TV show called Popstars. It was kind of like Making the Band. I was in Grade 9 and I was in line, and I had written this song that I was going to audition with, and I was singing it to the other people who were also going to audition. Just before it was my turn, they cut the line. I think my song was called “Reason to Breathe.” It was really great to have the camaraderie of everybody in line, and then we all had our hearts broken.
What do you think of when you think of Canada?
I think about how it’s so lucky that I get to be here. I have a lot of gratitude for my family being able to come here and to rebuild after everything they had been through in the Second World War. Now that I have a daughter, I also feel and think about how important it is to teach her everything that I never learned about Canada when I was growing up, and for our family to grow into a new meaning of what it means to be Canadian.
What was the first album you ever bought with your own money? The two CDs that come to mind are a CD single of “Ex-Factor” by Lauryn Hill, and Tragic Kingdom by No Doubt. I played that until it was scratched in a million places.
How do you spoil yourself?
My favourite way to spoil myself, at least since March of 2020, has been ordering Indian food for delivery.
What has been your strangest celebrity encounter?
I was in the line ordering a sandwich in Los Angeles and the person behind me was getting angry at me and scolded me for taking too long to order, and it was Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
What is the greatest song of alltime?
“I Will Always Love You” by Dolly Parton. But she’s the master songwriter of a bunch of greatest songs of all-time. She’s written “Jolene,” also the greatest song of all-time, “9 to 5,” also the greatest song of all-time, “Why’d You Come in Here Lookin’ Like That,” another greatest song of all-time. There’s quite a few. She’s written all the greatest songs of alltime, basically.