Vashti Bunjan - Diamond DayAlbum: Just Another Diamond Day [1970]
about five years after briefly surfacing as part of andrew loog oldham's stable, vashti - now billing herself with her full name, vashti bunyan - made her only album. a folkier and more serious-minded effort than her initial mid-'60s recordings, it is a pleasing yet overly dainty slice of british rock-tinged folk. for good measure, there are string and recorder arrangements by robert kirby, who had done some string arrangements for nick drake. comprised solely of original material, "just another diamond day" contained dignified yet slightly sad ruminations with a pastoral, indeed rural feel, filled with images of solitary meditations upon rain, wind, sunsets, and open fields. the drum-less, acoustic arrangements yielded an intimate ambience well-suited for vashti's fragile, measured, almost despondently wispy vocals. in recent years, vashti the performed her first live set in over three decades at the royal festival hall, duetted with devendra banhart on his "rejoicing in the hands" album, recorded with piano magic, sung on animal collective on their "prospect hummer EP", and recorded a new album for fat cat, with guest appearances from the likes of joanna newsom. she has been cited as an influence by a whole new generation of young performers of avant folk and has a higher profile than she has had since her initial emergence. the reason for all this renewed activity was the re-issue in 2000 (2004 in the US) to great acclaim of this album. her thoughts on it: "nobody seemed to give it a second thought when it was released. in fact, it was not really released, it just edged its way out, blushed and shuffled off into oblivion. i abandoned it, and music, forever as i went on to travel more with horses and wagons, with children and more dogs and chickens."
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