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Final Fantasy with Basia Bulat at 7th Street Entry on 10/13/07

By: Jen Paulson

Basia Bulat - Photo by Stacy Schwartz

As the stage was being set for adorable Ontario native Basia Bulat, I wondered what would be happening with the three single mics set up at the front, along with the drums and electric grand piano. I was standing, unaware of what my ears were about to experience—Bulat’s deeply lush and gorgeous voice. As then, the band shuffled out. Bulat had an excellent, warm rapport with her audience and band members. While initially, the backup singing was overwhelming Bulat’s voice, it all came together seamlessly. Holly Coish played a sweet ukulele and sang while Allison Stewart rounded everything out on viola. 

As the thumping beat of the Mainroom’s Saturday dance night, Too Much Love, shook like a thunderstorm outside of the musical womb built around us, Bulat showed her diverse talent by switching between musical instruments both common, like the guitar, and uncommon, like the autoharp. There is something about the autoharp, the fact that you basically hug it to play it, that added even more charm to the already-there Miss Bulat. On an incredibly intimate, “The Pilgriming Vine,” because of some extreme feedback, Bulat opted to play her dulcimer-led song without amplification and it was probably the most heartbreakingly standout song of her set. 

Bulat’s entire Rough Trade release, Oh My Darling, is packed full of soaring melodies and harmonies and exquisite songwriting that absolutely implore that you give them a listen. And soon. 

Ok, I’ll say it. Final Fantasy? Isn’t that a well-established video game franchise or something? Well, Final Fantasy just so happens to also be the name of frequent Arcade Fire collaborator Owen Pallett’s solo project. If you’re going to search for him on MySpace, search by his name, I’m telling you. It’s much easier. 

Final Fantasy - Photo by Stacy Schwartz

The lush, literal soundscapes of violin and piano loops and Pallett’s grandeur-projecting voice should be filed somewhere in between Performance Art, Experimental Folk and Baroque Pop. I sort of felt like I was inside a Phillip Glass score for an Errol Morris movie. Joining him on stage was an assistant, Stephanie, on the overhead projector with a big stack of homemade transparencies that created an intriguing, multimedia Frankenstein called “The Eight Schools of Magic,” with its weird, yet precious, jaw dropping awe. It left me asking myself, what planet am I on? 

In the subdued, dimmed lighting of the show, the sound of a police siren woke me from my weird desire to curl up and nap. Was I hypnotized? Perhaps. Maybe put under a spell by an enchanted sampler pedal? I perked awake by the strange requests for Pallett’s cover of Mariah Carey’s Tom Tom Club-sampled song, “Fantasy,” which he would not oblige. 

Pallett gained some early notoriety by covering “This Modern Love” by Bloc Party, catching the band’s attention and getting him an opening slot on one of their more recent tours. But he isn’t all about covering other people’s songs, it is just a nice addition to the quirky lyricism of his own songs. For example, “This is The Dream of Win and Regine” and having an entire album, He Poos Clouds. An album that, according a Q&A I read on the music blog You Ain’t no Picasso, is about “Death and Atheism through the lens of Dungeons and Dragons.” Frankly, you might not be able to figure that out from listening to a live show alone. 

But with three albums/EP’s out, and gaining in popularity, any Final Fantasy show is going to end up being a happening that you want to feast your eyes and ears on the next time it brings its metaphorical calliope through town.

Location Info: 7th Street Entry
Artist Info: Basia Bulat, Final Fantasy

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