Vashti Bunyan: Heartleap

There are many fantastic yarns in Vashti Bunyan's back-story, be it her discovery by Rolling Stones' manager Andrew Loog Oldham to the years spent travelling rural Scotland and Ireland in a horse- drawn wagon. Yet there's only been two albums to date (1970's Just Another Diamond Day and 2005's Lookaftering), making a Bunyan release a bit of a rarity. Here, on what she claims will be her last album, the aspects which led many to champion her are present and correct: the breathy, fragile voice; the homespun folk tales and melancholic, intimate moods. In the back- ground, a gentle soundbed of guitars, strings and keyboards provide some semblance of ballast to her voice and the songs. Jellyfish and The Boy are the ones which come with the most resonance, each finding a peg to hang onto in the midst of the soft waves of sounds which dominate. fat-cat.co.uk JIM CARROLL