Vashti Bunyan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
Vashti Bunyan - Publicity photograph issued September 2005
Enlarge
Vashti Bunyan - Publicity photograph issued September 2005

Vashti Bunyan (born 1945) is an influential English singer-songwriter. Her 1970 debut LP, Just Another Diamond Day, is considered an important album in the psych folk genre. Following the release of this LP, Bunyan disappeared from the music industry, until interest in her music was reignited with the psych folk revival of the early 2000s.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Directly descended from The Pilgrim's Progress author John Bunyan, Vashti Bunyan was born in London in 1945 to John and Helen Bunyan. In the early sixties she studied at The Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art at Oxford University, but was expelled for failing to turn up to classes. At 18 she travelled to New York and discovered Bob Dylan through his The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan album and decided to become a musician. Returning to London she was discovered by Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham and in 1965, under his direction, she released her debut single, the Jagger and Richards penned "Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind" (their own version later turning up on the outtakes compilation Metamorphosis), on Decca Records. Released using simply the name Vashti, it was backed with her own song "I Want To Be Alone". The single and her follow up "Train Song", released on Columbia Records, received little attention and after recording some songs for Oldham's Immediate Records, which remain unreleased, and making a brief appearance in the 1967 documentary Tonite Let's All Make Love in London, performing her song "Winter Is Blue", she decided to travel with her boyfriend Robert Lewis by horse and cart to the Isle of Skye to meet fellow folk singer Donovan. During the trip she began writing the songs which would eventually become her debut album Just Another Diamond Day.

Persuaded by American folk producer Joe Boyd to record an album for his Witchseason Productions, Vashti returned to London and recorded her debut LP in 1969 with assistance from Simon Nicol and Dave Swarbrick of Fairport Convention, Robin Williamson of The Incredible String Band and string arranger Robert Kirby, today best known for his work on Nick Drake's first two albums. The album was released in December 1970 but once more received little attention, struggling to find an audience with the music fans of the day. Disappointed with the reception it received, she left the music industry and moved into the country, spending the next 30 years raising her children and tending animals.

Despite the failure of her album at the time, her influence over a new generation of folk artists, such as Devendra Banhart and Joanna Newsom, kept her music alive. In 2000, Just Another Diamond Day was given a re-release on CD (with bonus tracks). In 2001 Banhart wrote to her asking for her advice on whether to continue with music to which she replied, beginning her connection with many of the contemporary performers who cite her work. In 2002 she was invited by Piano Magic musician Glen Johnson to sing guest vocals on his song "Crown of the Lost", her first recording in over 30 years. Since then she has appeared on releases by Devendra Banhart and Animal Collective and in 2005 she recorded and released her second album, Lookaftering, some 35 years after her first. The album was produced by composer Max Richter and featured many of her contemporary followers including Banhart, Joanna Newsom, Adem, Kevin Barker of Currituck Co, Otto Hauser of Espers and Adam Pierce of Mice Parade. It was well received by critics and fans alike.

Beginning in September of 2006, Bunyan assembled an ad hoc band and embarked on a brief North American tour, with stops in both Canada and the U.S. She performed songs from both of her solo albums, as well as some of the rare material from the unreleased Oldham sessions.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] Singles

  • "Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind" / "I Want To Be Alone" (1965) (as Vashti)
  • "Train Song" / "Love Song" (1966) (as Vashti)

[edit] Compilation appearances

  • Tonite Let's All Make Love in London (1967)
    • "Winter Is Blue" (as Vashti)
    • "Winter Is Blue (Reprise)" (as Vashti)
  • Circus Days - UK Psychedelic Obscurities 1966-70 Vol.1 (1990)
    • "I'd Like To Walk Around In Your Mind" (as Vashti)
  • A Pot By Any Other Name (2001) (Ptolemaic Terrascope compilation)
    • "17 Pink Sugar Elephants" (rec. 1966) (early variation of "Train Song")
  • Instant Karma (2002)
    • "Winter Is Blue" (as Vashti) (combined version of song from Tonite Let's All Make Love in London)
  • Folk Rock and Faithfull: Dream Babes Vol. 5 (2004)
    • "Train Song" (rec. 1966) (as Vashti)
    • "Love Song" (rec. 1966) (as Vashti)
  • The Golden Apples of the Sun (2004)
  • The Enlightened Family: A Collection Of Lost Songs (2005)
    • "Song of a Wishwanderer" (rec. 1968)
  • Not Alone (2006)
    • "Same But Different"

[edit] Guest appearances

[edit] Trivia

  • Her voice was heard on the DVD Saint Etienne Presents Finisterre (2005) a documentary about London, featuring the music of Saint Etienne.
  • "Diamond Day" was featured in a T-mobile TV advert in 2006.
  • Friend, fellow folk singer and long time fan Devendra Banhart reportedly writes her name on his arm before some concerts.
  • Lush covered her song "I'd Like To Walk Around In Your Mind". They got to know it from the "Circus Days" compilation.

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../v/a/s/Vashti_Bunyan_c4e5.html"
In other languages