Good Advice is notable because a) it’s a breakup record b) it’s a pop record c) she kept the django anyway. Damn right.

First things first: if you haven’t heard Bulat’s 2013 album Tall Tall Shadow, get it and put it in your rotation. If you dig Sufjan Stevens (who she just finished touring Europe with) or grew up with Kate Bush or Fleetwood Mac, you have no excuse. Sidenote: it was shortlisted for 2013’s Polaris Prize. Since then, Bulat toured the world, loved and lost. Rather than dwell, she used the loss as an energy, jumped in a car, drove 600 miles to Kentucky and met up with My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James, who offered a helping hand in creating Good Advice. 

While Bulat chooses a more accessible sound than fellow shortlister Grimes, she’s still a musical anomoly – something that often works against the quest for mainstream acceptance – especially in this country. Bulat’s song structures, length and influences were anything but tried-and-tried (and tried) radio fare. It played well with critics and on stage, but never produced that one hit single. Now, rather than throw out the musicianship and eccentricities in search of a hit, Bulat layers all that good stuff in on Good Advice.

The first of the singles on Good Advice is “Fool”, a torch bearer for the jilted. Here is a perfect sing-along that puts Bulat’s astonishing vocal range on display, and becomes  a rare, welcome earworm.

There’s also “La La Lie”, which is essentially Bulat’s “I Will Survive”, speaking to her own self conscious resilience “Day or night, friendly or fire it doesn’t feel right to me / I can keep up, even though I won’t feel alright for weeks”.

Whatever Bulat’s own goals are, and wherever her career takes her, it needs to be said that the indie aesthetic looks good on her. Bulat is unique. She is earnest. While grand, her vocal range is does very well against a minimalist, lo-fi instrumental backdrop. That’s why Good Advice stays true to her roots with songs like “Infamous”. Its driving, snare-heavy percussion, atmospheric noise and (mildly) distorted guitars at once emphasize her fragility and her strength. It’s also one of the album’s strongest reminders of how wise a choice Bulat made collaborating with James.

Once again, with Good Advice, we have an album that sees an always-maturing artist take strides towards a ballooning audience. And once again, the artist is so in control of her own destiny, there’s no missteps. Even though it was one of 2016’s early releases, it was hard to imagine a Polaris Prize shortlist without it.