Oh, My Darling

Basia Bulat had already made quite a splash in Britain and her native Canada before her full-length debut, Oh, My Darling, even made it out to the United States. And it's easy to see why she's been so popular. She has an easygoing, friendly style that borrows heavily from the chick-rock craze of the 1990s, songs full of warm melodies and sweet vocals. But where someone like Natalie Merchant was able to delve into the complexities of life and love intelligently and without relying too much on sentimentality or cliché, Bulat's lyrics and instrumental lines aren't quite able to push past those barriers. Instead, it is her singing that is the most appealing thing about Oh, My Darling, an alluring, folky vibrato-filled mix of the aforementioned Natalie Merchant, Antony Hegarty, fellow Canadian Serena Ryder, and even, strangely enough, Ted Leo, whose phrasing and melodic lines she mimics in songs like "Snakes and Ladders" and "Little One." Although most of the album doesn't quite match the strength of her voice, occasionally she manages to find that space where polish meets sincerity and originality, as in "Birds of Paradise," in which the twinkling piano actually seems appropriate and is not overused. With moments of clean pop honesty, Oh, My Darling is certainly an inoffensive offering.