:: Vashti Bunyan - Lookaftering

Vashti Bunyan

Everybody loves a good music story and Vashti Bunjan has a cracker. Discovered in the 1960’s by The Rolling Stones’ guru Andrew Loog Oldham and consequently releasing her one and only album Just Another Diamond Day, she was hailed as the “new Marianne Faithful”. This album was later re released in the late ‘90s but Lookaftering is her first new work in around 35 years. Along with this came a bevy of contemporary fans including album guests Joanna Newsom and Devendra Bernhart who contributes steel guitar on the track Wayward. The thing that strikes most about Lookaftering is the combination of a vulnerable voice and the maturity of Bunjan’s lyrics and understanding of the folk genre. The arrangements are magnificent with the fundamental instruments of harp, acoustic guitars and Hammond contributing to the stand out tracks ‘Same But Different’ and ‘Hidden’. With the recent popularity of roots and folk music in a more mainstream setting, this is the kind of album the discerning modern listener could learn to love and also an album you could hand to your ‘60s and ‘70s loving parents.