Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
What lays for us at the end is always up for debate, the gentle caress as we are returned to the Universe or the bang of unrequited expectation that went unfulfilled, and the question of how we were seen at the end comes racing into view, not if we were loved, but were we in love when the cold finish came.
It is in the heat of expression that the request of the forthcoming answer to the words, Are You In Love? come from the lips and mind of the critically acclaimed singer-songwriter, Basia Bulat, with such meaningful persuasion, almost as if the Canadian knew full the response that was going to come her way, and for each listener, surely the reaction would be in the positive, a yes from all corners.
The end is only as far away as you want it to be, the clock may tick down eventually on any relationship but you should always hope to be in love, to feel the glow of Time within you. In that glow you are likely to find the talented singer-songwriter’s heartfelt plea with the effect of stardust in her eyes filter over your own soul and turn it to joy, a party in the mind which never stops, never relents.
Across tracks such as Electric Roses, Homesick, I Believe It Now, Already Forgiven and the album closer of Love Is At The End Of The World, what comes across is the pursuit of a memory, of understanding and the fire of the times that cascade in fury around the artist, whilst all the time offering a genuine sense of shelter, of buoyant calm that she stirs in the waters, a drop of oil on the crested waves but all the time pulling the cord on the motor of her own accessibility and tradition.
A wonderful return to the hearts and minds of the fans and admirers of the Canadian songwriter, a set of songs bathed in flame and the forever spark of knowledge; Are You In Love?, you shouldn’t doubt that you will be soon.
Basia Bulat releases Are You In Love? on March 27th via Secret City Records.
Ian D. Hall