Heartleap

Vashti Bunyan's trilogy of albums begun in the 70's with "Just Another Diamond Day", continued with 2005's "Lookaftering" and this year concludes in a span of 40 some years of patience with the hauntingly charming "Heartleap". The story of Vashti Bunyan's music career is a renowned tale of folklore at this point that is truly remarkable and will probably be retold anytime anyone ever writes about her. In reference to my own personal review though I will only note that I had not heard of "Just Another Diamond Day" until it was championed in the early part of the 2000's by hipsters, rock journalists and neo-folk revivalists in a frenzy of accolades and adulation fueled just as much by being recognized for discovering something lost as the need to recognize something authentic. The enchanted "Just Another Diamond Day" found an audience upon a second release that encouraged Vashti forth from obscurity as if she were the savior of the day. She obliged with genuine modesty that within a few years of her reemergence would seem contradictory to the cultural landscape in which increasingly demanded musicians to have a "louder" presence thus to differentiate themselves from the crowd of musicians that grows larger and larger as technology offers anyone the ability to record a magnum opus. In this sense "Heartleap" is a whisper in a loud theater of shouting. It is natural to lean in closer to a whisper, to feel its soft wind on the ear, to carefully dedicate all focus upon each delivered annunciation, especially when it may be the last exhalation of a revered voice. "Heartleap" requires this kind of consideration to release all of its magic. I think that's why it lends itself to being a morning album, or at least a lazy morning when the album can be appreciated fully. A whisper by nature implies a secret and "Heartleap", like Vashti Bunyan's other albums, is like a secret between whisperer and audience. In this way "Heartleap" is a precious listen from beginning to end. To use the word "simple" or "plain" to describe "Heartleap" greatly diminishes the overwhelmingly boundlessness each song contains but the melodies are not decorated extravagantly in cosmetics. Lean, organic, gentle melodies produced in arrangements of soft synth, flute, saxophone, strings and guitars form the garden in which the flowers of Vashti's spelling vocals emerge, tilling lyrics from dreams and memories. Her voice remains colored with the vibrancy of her imagery, shimmering beneath a lifting mist in that quivering voice that carries occasionally an agedness but is still as tender as it was 40 years ago. There is a melancholy to this album, one that creates a sense of departure. If this is the last time we will here from Vashti she leaves us with much to think about, offering glimpses of herself through her memories such as on the song "mother" which depicts a child watching her mother through a crack in the door dance alone. The piano on this song reminds me of rain perhaps speckling the window glass behind her mother. It's a simple moment but it pacts such an emotional punch that it remains stirring inside long after the song has ended. "Across the Water" opens the album with a dreamily strummed melody as Vashti sings of the wisdom of age. It's a devastatingly beautiful opener that sets a tone of graceful introspection. "Holy Smoke" is a standout track for me that floats like dandelion seeds in a breeze over green pastures. "Heartleap" closes the album, a genial kiss farewell, a flower plucked from the soil for you to take with, feeling its petals brush against your cheek like eyelashes as you inhale its fragrance in a woozy remembrance of your own path. Long after the hype that brought Vashti Bunyan a renewed cult following has thinned for the next savior of the day, Vashti quietly returns to the comforting obscurity of her own life, releasing an endearing and timeless piece of art that is one of the year's best and definitely one of my favorites.

...it's a beautiful way to finish a trilogy. A trilogy spanning a stupefying, fascinating fourty-four years.-Review by Jon K.I regret only discovering Vashti last year. Then again, I haven't been alive for too long, so I'm glad I caught her no later than when I did. Since last year, I have been absolutely inspired and awestruck with her sound.I'd first heard Lookaftering, an album which, with incredible songs such as "Lately," "Wayward," "Turning Backs," and my favorite, "Feet of Clay," got me interested in the first album, Just Another Diamond Day. Upon hearing it, I was a little stunned: it seemed like the two albums could have been released in tandem only a few years apart. Aside from production values, of course.When I heard this was her last album, I was both saddened and afraid to hear it. It's understandable why this would be her last, but still, I was worried, perhaps a little selfishly, that this final album would take away from the magic of the two that came before it. But I am not disappointed.The album contains more of Vashti's masterful chord progressions and showcases her genuine ability to come up with great melodies. Songs like "Mother" and "Shell," the former of which Vashti put together literally (LITERALLY) one piano note at a time, both immediately invite to be re-listened even before finishing and tug at the heartstrings with vivid lyrical imagery, untouchable by fiction. Others like "Jellyfish" further showcase Vashti's ability to weave indelible, unforgettable melodies and emotions into single songs. "Blue Shed" almost seems to reflect the beginning of "Feet of Clay" as they contain some of the same notes, yet they lead in two separate directions. There's nothing here that overtly upsets the magic from the two albums prior. It takes it in its new, and final, direction.Though Lookaftering will always be my favorite of her albums, with JADD following, this is a beautiful third and final album. It's much lonelier than the other two, and it seems to curiously mirror Nick Drake's Pink Moon, his third, final, and loneliest album (though not to discredit Vashti, who, though she once covered "Which Will," has her own sound). As with anyone who falls in love with an individual's work, I honestly wish she had more albums planned, because I love her sound, her style, and things just seem incomplete with only three albums, like there should be more stories told than this. But if this is all there will be, I must say, it's been wonderful to hear her stories and music, perhaps sparse as they were, and even if I only caught the tail end of the journey.Cheers to Vashti.

if you can only play one track, play the title track. its one of those you will feel rattle in your soul till you go. special album-I love everything she's ever done. very special artist to me. close to my heart. only one track on side 2 not up to quality but otherwise, every bit as enchanting as lookaftering...

Great CD and wonderful music.

great

I have the cd but had to get the vinyl as well. It's wonderful, fragile, sweet. Playing the record with added speakers sounds amazing. I highly recommend the vinyl version. The cover art is amazing as well as the music.

Very soft spoken vocals with minimal accompaniment. Very nice for quiet times and if your indoor plumbing is working correctly.

If your heart is open, then Vashti Bunyan’s music will melt it. All of her albums are worth having. You will be seduced by the honest delicacy.

Miss Bunyan sounds a fresh an airy as ever. Awesome album!

9 Jahre nach ihrem zweiten Album und 44 Jahre nach ihrem Debut veröffentlicht die mittlerweile 69-jährige englische Folksängerin ihr nunmehr drittes Werk. Ihre Stimme ist wie eh und je hauchzart und von zeitloser Jugendlichkeit, ja geradezu Jungfräulichkeit, die jenseits von Zeit und Vergänglichkeit zu existieren scheint. Die Musik auf Heartleap ist, wie auch schon auf den anderen Alben, sehr ruhig, fein und harmonisch, sparsam instrumentiert mit akustischen und elektrischen Gitarren, Klavier und Streichern sowie hie und da eine Flöte oder ein Saxophon. Bei den neuen Songs löst sich Vashti Bunyan mehr noch als beim Vorgänger von traditionell-folkigen Kompositions- und Harmoniemustern, wobei eine Klangsphäre entsteht, die von solch überirdischer Schönheit ist, als wäre ein Engel herabgestiegen, uns Trost und Hoffnung einzuhauchen. Heartleap ist ideal zum Abschalten und Entspannen, und wenn dabei die Grenzen zum Reich der Träume überschritten werden, dann hat es einem höheren Zweck gedient. Einfach traumhaft schön, da möchte man gar nicht mehr aufwachen ...

Además de que el disco es una maravilla, el packaging también lo es. Todo está cuidado al máximo.Lo recomiendo a todos los seguidores de esta artista, no les va a defraudar.

Son dernier-dernier album selon Vashti Bunyan elle-même. Une immense réussite, comme ses précédents essais... Une douceur et une fragilité rarement atteintes sur disque (voix, instrumentation) ; une merveille de poésie folk qui fait du bien dans tout ce bruit qui nous entoure et nous submerge parfois. Je sais que, comme ses autres albums, il tournera encore très longtemps et souvent sur ma platine.Merci, Vahti, et un grand bravo.