Vashti Bunyan

Turning up at the Union Chapel with mixed expectations about the evening ahead, I am completely blown away by the venue which, as the name suggest, is a house of god but what I didn’t know is that it is still an active place of worship. It is this I imagine which gives the building as a venue such a special and revered atmosphere. It’s a fantastic space which would appear to be purpose built for the line-up of introverted and twee music put on tonight by Arctic Circle.

First on the bill is Danny Norbury a cellist who, accompanied this evening by Nancy Elisabeth on piano, a musician and singer in her own right, creates assemblages of landscapes fit to accompany any beautifully melancholic day. Throughout, the stillness of the captivated audience is only interrupted by the sound of their appreciation and the occasional echo of footsteps. Despite the mood of the music, at the end you are left feeling like an important realisation has washed over you and wondering just how long it will be before you hear Norbury’s music again but this time as the soundtrack to a film.

David Kitt is next to take to the stage with guitar and a rock 'n’ roll bottle of beer. He starts of his set quite conventionally and soon becomes a bit invisible. This would have fast become the point at which the bar fills up if he hadn’t then invited onto the stage Romeo and Michele of the Magic Numbers. Now with full harmonies and musical accompaniment things start to get more entertaining, a cross between Bill Callahan and The Mamas & The Papas they cover Womack and Womack 'Teardrops’ as well as performing numerous tracks from Kitt’s back catalogue. Despite all this the set feels a bit dry and the draw of the bar is becoming ever more powerful!

Vashti Bunyan’s story is worth mentioning now for anyone who isn’t that familiar with her background. As a young woman she travelled the length of the country writing songs, eventually settling in the north of Scotland to what would turn out to be a stalled start to her now successful music career. The songs she wrote whilst travelling become the album 'Just Another Diamond Day’ released in 1970 which was recorded with members from The Incredible String Band and Fairport Convention, despite this collaboration the record disappeared into relative obscurity only to build itself a dedicated following over the preceding decades by those now associated with the new folk movement. Amongst her admirers is Devendra Banhart who invited her to play All Tomorrows Parties with him in 2006. She recorded with Animal Collective releasing an E.P. and is currently working on new material.
Having seen Vashti Bunyan play before but not being able to remember much of it for a variety of reasons I am quite excited about the upcoming performance and she doesn’t disappoint; from the outset she has everyone’s attention introducing each song with a bit of background on its conception. Charming and beautiful she is quick to banishes any lingering doubts and along with the accompanying musicians recounts tails of travelling, love and the idealistic dreams of a young mind. What is special about this show is that she has also invited along a quartet of recorder players to play the original compositions arranged by Robert Kirby for 'Just Another Diamond Day’. The set is littered with classics as well as new tracks of which some are fresh from the writing block. The most striking thing about Vashti’s music is her voice which seems to inhabit a completely different plane to everything else. To be honest I can’t think of anyone to compare her to and with the setting taken into consideration there are comparisons I could make but they would all come over rather naff so my suggestion is that you go and see her for yourself!