Audiopile Review: Vashi Bunyan has certainly had one of the weirder trajectories in musical history. Bunyan’s ‘failed’ 60s pop career and subsequent peregrinations are detailed in her excellent memoir ‘Wayward’. And suffice to say, her Joe Boyd-produced 1970 debut ‘Just Another Diamond Day’ is a freak folk classic. In the early 2000s, after ‘Diamond Day’ was rescued from its position as one of thee great lost albums, Vashti Bunyan made a couple of marvelous records for the FatCat label. The first of these, ‘Lookaftering’, is back in print in an expanded edition. There isn’t much of Vashti’s recorded music in the world, so more is always welcome. Though it came a quarter-century later, this album immediately retains the wistful chamber-folk sound of ‘Diamond Day’, and that voice is as delicately angelic as ever. Producer Max Richter (yes, the neo-minimalist composer) makes the arrangements sound absolutely crystal clear. This new edition provides an opportunity to hear the songs without all that ornamentation, courtesy of a wealth of demos, live tracks, and alternative takes. The songs are fantastic and sound great dressed up or stripped down. And those fools try to tell us you can’t have your cake and eat it!

Marking the occasion of 20 years since the original release, and coinciding with Vashti’s 80th birthday, DiCristina is pleased to announce “Lookaftering – Expanded Edition”, a reissue of her legendary second album.

The new expanded edition features the original studio album along with a second LP of demos, an alternate take, and a live performance . This edition also comes with a stunning 16 page lyric book featuring a collection of paintings by Vashti’s daughter, Whyn Lewis – paintings that they both say have closely, and coincidentally, reflected the lyrics of the album. Also included are sleeve notes from Vashti, producer Max Richter, and Devendra Banhart.

Originally recorded between 2001 and 2005, the unreleased demos were created at Vashti’s home, with Vashti accompanying herself on electric and acoustic guitar along with a host of experimental instrumentation including synths, accordion, piano, strings, pipe organ, harmonium and recorders. The demos offer a more stripped back sound , with the live version of. “Lately” recorded in 2006 at the Echo in LA , offering a pitch perfect performance by Vashti’s 2006 North American touring band of gareth dickson, jo mango, kevin barker, helena espvall, and kat hernandez.

Listening to the demos and final versions side by side while reading the sleeve notes, and taking in the beautiful new artwork is a wonderful experience.