Vashti Bunyan's third album arrives nine years after ‘Lookaftering’, her last album of new material, and an astonishing 44 years after her debut 'Just Another Diamond Day'.
Now nearly 70, she is adamant that ‘Heartleap’ will be her last album.
Recorded in California, New York and London but mostly alone in her home studio in Edinburgh, it is the first time she has been in control of the whole process, from writing and arranging to playing and recording.
She is quick to praise the production of her first two albums by Joe Boyd and Max Richter respectively but says "I wanted to try to emerge from the shelter of others and stand out in the open. If I’d taken these songs and gone into a studio they might have turned out very differently, perhaps more 'produced' - but not as near to how I hear them for myself.”.
Vashti had the luxury of being able to record her vocals when no one else was around to overhear. The delicate tunes are predominantly guitar or piano led and, while there is additional instrumentation, none of the songs have bass-lines or percussion.
Although she admits that she can’t play the piano, Vashti built the keyboard parts from single notes and multiple one-handed takes. This partly explains why the whole process took a total of seven years to complete.
The right final mix eluded Vashti until May 2014 when, finally, it was balanced and mastered beautifully by Martin Korth and Mandy Parnell at the Black Saloon studios in London.
Originally she planned to work with Robert Kirby who had arranged three songs on ‘Just Another Diamond Day’ but his death in 2009 left her stranded for two years before she took the decision to complete the job herself.
This does not mean that she is left entirely isolated as she is actually completely solo on just two songs (The Boy and Heartleap). The first is an old song she almost abandoned, the second is a spontaneous response to the album’s striking cover artwork which, as with Lookaftering, is taken from a painting by her daughter, Whyn Lewis.
Then it was a hare, now it's a hart. Lewis says the new work represents “getting away unscathed… about confidence and self-assuredness, and wisdom", all topics which have a special significance for her mother.
|
On five of the tracks there are studio-recorded string arrangements by Fiona Brice, Ian Burdge and Gillon Cameron. The only 'star names' are Vetiver's Andy Cabic on guitar and Devendra Banhart who contributes relatively anonymous backing vocals on the single Holy Smoke.
Other musicial contributions are from Ian Wilson (recorder and saxophone), Gareth Dickson (guitar) Jo Mango (kalimba and flute). Contrary to early reports, Adem and Joanna Newsom do not appear.
On Gunpowder, one of the ten new songs, Vashti sings of imagining her "words in the air" safely padlocked away where they would remain "for ever and silently out of harms way". The song is about the difficulty of communicating with an ex-partner but might also be a reference to the difficulty of putting deeply felt emotions into words.
This is a reminder that, despite being plucked from obscurity and celebrated by a new generation of 'freak folk' artists, Vashti has never been entirely comfortable in the limelight.
Fortunately for us, she allows her words to float free, metaphorically spiralling skyward or more frequently gliding across the ocean. The sense of liberty this brings is always tempered by the fragility of her voice which, notwithstanding her passing years, still sounds as remarkably fresh and youthful as when she started out.
This intoxicating record works in so many ways. it is tender and personal; headstrong and soulful; delicate yet forthright; more of the same but different.
These are all heart songs.
|
