Basia Bulat Battles Sophomore Jinx

The worst part of getting high is coming down.

Basia Bulat is undoubtedly happy for the runaway success of her 2007 Oh My Darling debut, but she also realizes she set the bar pretty high. Not many debut albums lead to European tours and get short listed for major awards like the Polaris Music Prize.

With her second full-length, Heart Of My Own, about to see the light of day, is Bulat concerned about the dreaded sophomore jinx?

"Everybody has that fear," she says, "especially since it's so built up in your mind.

"At the same time, I can't help whether [an album] is going to be a blessing or a curse. It's out of my hands. I write what I write. I certainly hope my second record isn't going to be my best record, and it hopefully won't be my worst either."

That sentiment is echoed in the album's title and title track. If nothing else, Bulat wants to at least be able to say she did it her way.

"I wanted to make that song the title track," she says of "Heart Of My Own." "It feels really central. It was a song that I've carried with me for quite some time. It's really about finding a centre, or a part of yourself that doesn't change. Something you're always sure of.

"I've been going all over the world, and sometimes when you're away from home, you start to forget who you are. I think that was sort of a reminder to myself."

Bulat at one point found herself in the Yukon as part of that world travelling. Her entire visit there, she says, was a significant source of inspiration for the new disc.

"I was in the Yukon for just under a week, for the Dawson City Music Festival. I had these wonderful hosts who were incredibly strong and wonderful people — really amazing and dedicated to their community... and incredibly kind to strangers. I found the landscape itself to be incredibly fortifying."

She has no plans to return to the territories yet, but here's where you can catch Basia Bulat in the coming months:

Jan. 16 Toronto, ON @ Trinity-St. Paul's United Church
Jan. 22 New York, NY @ The Bowery Ballroom
Jan. 27 London, England @ Underbelly Hoxton
Jan. 29 Paris, France @ La Maroquinerie
Feb. 2 Kingston, ON @ Sydenham Street United Church
Feb. 4 London, ON @ The Aeolian Hall
Feb. 5 Orillia, ON @ Highwayman Inn & Conference Centre
Feb. 6 Guelph, ON @ Sleeman Centre (Hillside Inside)
Feb. 7 Hamilton, ON @ The Casbah
Feb. 10 Halifax, NS @ St. Matthew's United Church
Feb. 12 Montreal, QC @ L'Astral
Feb. 13 Ottawa, ON @ The First Baptist Church
Feb. 25 Winnipeg, MB @ West End Cultural Centre
Feb. 27 Saskatoon, SK @ Amigos Cantina
March 2 Calgary, AB @ Central United Church
March 3 Edmonton, AB @ The Starlite Room
March 5 Vancouver, BC @ St. James Hall
March 26 Cambridge, MA @ T.T. The Bear's