Now based in Edinburgh, Vashti’s story tells of the thwarted promise of early fame, disenchantment, long-term exile and eventual rediscovery. In the mid-‘60s, she was discovered by The Rolling Stones’ guru, Andrew Loog Oldham, signed to Decca and recorded a single written by Jagger / Richards. Reviews touted her as ‘the new Marianne Faithful’ or the ‘female Bob Dylan’ (though Vashti claimed to be neither), yet further singles remained unreleased, leading to a sense of despair and a rejection of the music industry. She bought a horse and cart and set off in 1968 for the dream of a creative colony that the singer Donovan was setting up on the Scottish Isle of Skye. It took them two long years to get there, by which time Donovan had left, but the experience formed the songs for ‘Just Another Diamond Day’, the album recorded by Joe Boyd (and featuring members of The Incredible String Band and Fairport Convention).
The record slipped out in a tiny pressing and was rapidly forgotten, yet gradually over the years accrued a cultish currency as a lost English classic. In the late ‘90s, ‘JADD’ was re-released – almost thirty years after she had “abandoned it and music forever” - to huge critical acclaim (The Observer Music Monthly placed it at 53 in their ‘Top 100 British albums’). A host of young, new admirers emerged citing her influence, and Vashti has since recorded with Piano Magic, The Cocteau Twins’ Simon Raymonde, Devendra Banhart, and Animal Collective.
A brand new album, ‘Lookaftering’ was released in October 2005 to huge acclaim. In October 2008 a world premiere screening of a new feature-length documentary about Vashti’s life was screened at the prestigious British Film Institute, as part of The London Film Festival, by BAFTA winning director Kieran Evans.
Following another hiatus in her song-writing and recording, a new album 'Heartleap', recorded mostly by Vashti herself in her own studio, was released on FatCat in October 2014.
Links:
fat-cat.co.uk/site/artists/vashti-bunyan
anotherday.co.uk