Basia Bulat on Orchestral Performances and Owen Pallett

Like Owen Pallett, Joel Plaskett and Jill Barber, songbird Basia Bulat has discovered the magic of performing with a philharmonic orchestra. But whatever you do, don't try to suggest to the Toronto singer-songwriter -- who, earlier this week, received her first Juno nomination in the Best New Artist category -- that she's part of a trend.

"I wouldn't really consider it a trend," she tells Spinner. "I think there's been many many orchestral pop records and many instances of people throughout the years doing this kind of crossover."

"I just think it can make for interesting collaborations," she continues. "And I don't think it's necessarily restrictive for 'indie music' -- whatever that means -- for example, I don't know if I would even fall into that category."

When Bulat performs with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra tonight at Hamilton Place Theatre (ON), you can be certain that the topic of trendsetting will be far from her mind. After all, there are more important things to consider.

"Because the entire show isn't with the orchestra -- it's about half and half -- what I've been working on for all these kind of performances is figuring out how the night can have a bit of a narrative between my solo work and the orchestral pieces," says Bulat. "The orchestral pieces themselves have a storytelling arc so I'm kind of fitting in my solo pieces in there, almost like little internal dialogue."

Watch Basia Bulat Perform 'Gold Rush' Live
After her successful collaboration with the Symphony Nova Scotia at last year's Halifax Pop Explosion, Bulat admits to feeling at home with these types of performances -- the fact orchestral whiz Owen Pallett handled her arrangements obviously has to help with confidence levels, too.

"I had plans to do a show for the Halifax Pop Explosion so I asked Owen Pallett -- who's the loveliest man in the world -- to write arrangements, and he just sort of did it all, these wonderful arrangements," says Bulat. "I learned a lot, and it's kind of changed how I've approached thinking about music and writing music. It's been a really amazing experience for me."

So can we expect there to be a more symphonic bent to the follow-up to 'Heart of My Own,' which, according to Bulat, will be recorded in the spring? Perhaps, but the folk singer isn't ready to shed any light on what's to come.

"There will be songs and some lyrics and various different types of rotations," she says, cheekily.