Heartleap (180g LP)

Nine years after 'Lookaftering', her last album of new material, legendary British singer-songwriter Vashti Bunyan returns with a breathtaking new LP. Recorded largely in her Edinburgh home studio over the past 7 years, 'Heartleap' is a unique and entrancing collection of 10 songs forming what Vashti is adamant will be her final album.

This third album follows her rediscovery - after thirty years in the wilderness - with the 2000 re-release of 'Just Another Diamond Day' (a cult classic that made # 53 in the Observer Music monthly's 'top 100 British albums of all time'), and the critical success of 2005's 'Lookaftering'. 'Heartleap' has a classic sound and sees her deliver an album where - for the first time - she herself has been in control of the whole process, from writing and arranging to playing and recording. Working predominantly from a studio set up in her Edinburgh home, the record reveals an artist at her peak, capturing her songs within fluid settings that masterfully marry content and form.

A more personal record, 'Heartleap' stands solely on the merits and patient endeavour of its author rather than being buoyed by and filtered through the cachet and collaborative creativity of a powerful supporting cast. It is ultimately a less mediated record, and one that Vashti feels is far closer to the vision she set out to realise.