There's more to Carol Bui than meets the eye (or the ear). Which is saying something considering that her latest release, Everyone Wore White, is a complex tapestry that not only showcases her capabilities as a guitarist but fleshes out several corners of her history and personality. Bui draws from influences as disparate as Fugazi and traditional Vietnamese tunes (one of which she sings a capella to close out the album) and sings about life's rough patches with a tone that's disarmingly bold and direct. Her toughness and sensitivity shine through, but she's also witty and approachable. That's part of the beauty of her music: she's honest and forthright, yet leaves so much in her nuances for the listener to discover. There's a reason she's on the list of DCist's favorite local acts of 2007.

Over the months since her album's release, her buzz, already strong in the metro area has multiplied as everyone from My Old Kentucky Blog to All Music Guide has given her stellar reviews. Even the Pitchfork writer who famously blasted the work of another local artist gave Everyone Wore White a hefty 7.8. With a fiery live show to boot (and one already planned opening for Merge duo The Rosebuds), Carol Bui certainly has the capability to break out nationally in 2008.

Visit Carol Bui online at: carolbui.com or on MySpace at http://myspace.com/carolbui

See her next: January 17th at The Rock and Roll Hotel with The Rosebuds

Buy her album at: Crooked Beat or online at iTunes

It looks to me like 2007 was a pretty good year for you, would you agree with that?

Yeah, I’d say so. A lot of good things happened. My album came out, that was a big highlight.

Do you think the Pitchfork effect kicked in for you after their review?

Yeah a little bit. My label got a lot of press requests. A lot of publications decided after Pitchfork put up that review that my album’s worth reviewing. So a lot of them asked for copies. More attention, I guess.

I’ve seen a lot of comparisons of you to PJ Harvey but from the looks of your MySpace blog, you don’t seem to agree with that.

I have been compared to PJ Harvey a whole lot. PJ Harvey and Kristin Hersh. And it kind of sucks because when people read these reviews and say, “Oh, she sounds like PJ Harvey. Oh, I love PJ Harvey!” and then they hear me think, “Oh, she doesn’t sound a thing like PJ Harvey.” And I’m afraid that they’re disappointed.

Is there anybody who you’d say would be more accurate that’s been a big influence on your music?

Do you mean someone I sound like or someone who’s a big influence whether I end up sounding like them or not?

Both.

I feel like when I say this it’s kind of blasphemous but I have to say I think that Jeff Buckley is, to me, more accurate for when I write my songs and kind of put the melodies and stuff. He’s a definite influence. He’s probably in the forefront of my mind. And I’ve gotten a lot of feedback and a lot of people have said that my songs kind of sound like his. Like, the influence is obvious to a lot of people, is what I’m trying to say. I’m trying to be very careful about my words when talking about Jeff Buckley. He’s iconic, I don’t want to upset people who are his devotees.

You’ve already said in a Largehearted Boy interview that you were reading a biography of Tim and Jeff Buckley.

It made me really sad. It just felt like such a waste, especially the chapters about what happened with his music afterwards with his mother just how it all came to be released. How he didn’t want the recordings to get out to the public but they did anyway. I mean, I’m glad that they ended up releasing all those secret recordings like Sketches of My Sweetheart the Drunk because I enjoy listening to them. But as an artist I can empathize with him, the whole privacy/not wanting to share your headspace with people and then having people violate it anyway.

Several reviews have made note of the fact that you’ve skillfully intertwined your Vietnamese heritage into your music. Is that something that you were conscious of doing or is that something where that’s who you are so of course it’s going to go in?

I guess it’s just be, cause it was gonna go in. I feel comfortable singing words that are honest, more direct and I guess when I wrote those songs, those things are just sort of in my consciousness. But then some people are just, “That’s TMI!” And I understand that, but then, they don’t have to buy my record!

You recorded Everyone Wore White at Inner Ear Studios. Were there any particularly interesting moments recording there?

Well Ian MacKaye was in the sessions a few times and that kind of scared me at first. When we started recording this record he was working with Joe Lally on Joe Lally’s latest record. They were there. And Ian MacKaye is a very nice man and he’s very articulate and very good at having conversations with people and being a cool guy but it still scared me because, it’s frickin’ Ian MacKaye! And I think he and Joe used one of my bass players’ basses and he was just so stoked.

Would you say that growing up in the DC area when you did influenced the kind of music that you make?

Yeah, definitely. I mean, I was never a fanatical devotee of Fugazi or a lot of other DC bands but their influence kind of infiltrated the area and the scene and I kind of became part of the community in high school so that was like, all around me so I started listening, especially to Fugazi. But I listened to certain records a lot. Like, I never became like the biggest fan of their entire catalogue where I had to see them all the time or had to listen to them all the time. But I got hooked on In On The Killtaker and I got hooked on End Hits when that came out and I just wore those albums out and actually one of the songs on my old record, I directly ripped off this riff in the opening track of In On the Killtaker. I mean, I modified it a little bit but nobody notices because I’m female and they don’t connect.

Were there any moments on tour this year that you particularly loved?

We ended up playing Ladyfest Chicago because someone didn’t show, and we stayed an extra day and got on the bill and that was pretty awesome. A lot of people were there and it was hot and sweaty. I had issues getting my guitar set because I had bad chords and it took me forever to figure that out and I’m panicking but then that set us up for kind of a fiery performance so that was cool. We got really good responses both nights in Chicago.

One thing that other people may not necessarily know about you is that you also do booking for shows at The Lab and at Murky Coffee. If you had a choice later on between performing and booking shows which one do you think you’d prefer?

Duh, I’d perform! If I could find a way to do both and not sacrifice the amount of work or effort or quality of whatever comes out then I would do both but if I had to choose one or the other I’d definitely tour and record and write all the time.

You’re opening for the Rosebuds, which I’m sure must be exciting. Are there any other acts that you’ve really enjoyed performing with?

We played with Beauty Pill at Fort Reno and I thought that was pretty cool. And it rained. It was just kind of funny because earlier that day I was talking to Chad, I was like, “Chad, oh don’t worry, it’s not going to rain!” Because there was a question of whether to cancel or not and I just kind of put it aside, I was like, “It’s not going to rain!!” and of course it rained during their set, it didn’t rain during the first few bands but it was cool. Kind of romantic, kind of sweet. I really liked playing with them a lot.

We played with Pash a few times and they’re awesome. They’re so energetic and they’re all great players and I really enjoyed playing with them. And there’s this band called The Roofwalkers, they used to be called Pagoda. They’re this like psychedelic-alt-country kind of 60s whatever but they’re great. They’re local; they played my CD release party and we played with them a couple times before then and they’re awesome. I have them playing at The Lab in January.

What would you say your favorite albums of the past year are?

I’ve listened to a lot of old and new stuff so not all the albums I name were released this year. But I really love this album called Harmonium by this band called Glos. It’s Keeley from Engine Down, Maura Davis from Denali and this other guy Cornbread Compton. They each worked remotely to put this album together, just transferring files via the internet and each recorded their own parts, I guess, that’s what I read. But they put out this album through Lovitt Records called Harmonium and it’s just awesome. Just get it.

Do you have any New Year’s Resolutions that you’re making for next year?

I have tons of resolutions, but I always do, every year, every month. Just to try to stay sane. That’s it. Just to kind of, keep my head on straight. It’s a very broad and very vague resolution but it covers a lot. It’s like an all-for-one resolution.