Vashti Bunyan
Just Another Diamond Day

Release Date: 1970 | Tracklist

Strange, is that the world around me seems to stop spinning in the face of one woman’s cool, soft coo. When listening to Vashti Bunyan the only thing I can think of is childhood, the days when I was young and the world was a mystery, playing in the leaves, catching frogs by the pond, watching a babbling brook for longer than I can possibly imagine these days. Vashti’s music echoes the good old days for me, her voice brings to mind innocence and love, the ultimate feel good music. But then again, I guess that’s not the case, because the biggest feeling to come over me while listening to Bunyan is sadness and regret. Regret that I couldn’t have lived a more complete childhood, that I let things like technology take over. Regret for the fact that I know I won’t be able to change any of that. And sadness for, well, I’m not sure, but I know it has something to do with this wonderful woman and her wonderful, peaceful, melancholy voice.

Vashti is a one of the forgotten gems of British folk, and essentially the only major imprint for which all modern “freak folk” can trace its tangled, fuzzy roots back to. Her vocals swim in classical string arrangements, soothing flute melodies, hall reverb and surprisingly complex acoustic guitar parts, it’s not exactly “psychedelic”, but it’s hard to listen to this music and not picture the long gone 60’s “hippie” sub culture. Vashti’s vocals are godly. She does not hit bombastic high notes, nor take obscenely long vocal solos, but it is in her modest, heart-warming whisper that one will find one of the most beautiful tones in all of music. With Vashti’s post-music-life (it was after this lone LP that she hung up her microphone) consisting of mostly gardening and raising a family, it’s no surprise that her music has a distinctly rural feel. The arrangements lack drums and any instrument powered by electricity at all. And they are all the better for it. Rainbow River, a mid-LP stunner, features an absolutely beautiful introduction made up of nothing, but woodwind instruments. The actual song has a sad, slow almost hymn-like quality to it, with background instrumentation made up of a lonely, delicately plucked acoustic guitar line. When Vashti’s warm vocals begin to harmonize with the woodwinds it becomes intensely apparent that this could quite possibly be one of the best vocals performances ever.

Other highlights on this brilliant debut record include the soft, emotional Diamond Day, a slightly bouncy ballad featuring strings and production slightly reminiscent of the trippy Disney Classic, Alice in Wonderland. Glow Worms features perhaps Vashti’s most touching and intimate vocal on the whole CD, with her pastoral melodies paired with a dreamy, awe-inspiring folk guitar line. All in all, Just Another Diamond Day is perhaps the most intriguing and absolutely enchanting album I have ever witnessed (read: listened to). The vocals are perfect, the musicianship, country and western references and all, is, for the most part, brilliant and the lyrics, while not worthy of a Nobel Prize, certainly give you that warm, fuzzy feeling inside. Most certainly a 5/5, Vashti is a songwriter worthy of all the world’s lost recognition.

-Joe.

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4.1 excellent