Last month, UK folk legend Vashti Bunyan announced plans to release a new album called Heartleap. Though it doesn't arrive until October, Bunyan has shared more details about the release.
Heartleap features 10 new songs from the beloved folk performer. The album's cover, available above, is taken from a painting by her daughter, Whyn Lewis.
In a press release, Bunyan explains that she recorded the album on her own. "I wanted to see what I could do without using the ideas of others," she said. "If I'd taken these songs and gone into a studio with them they might have turned out very differently, perhaps more 'produced' — but not as near to how I hear them for myself."
Staying true to how she hears the songs in her head was an important part of the process for Bunyan. "The whole point of the album was finally to learn a way that would enable me to record the music that is in my head, by myself," she explained. "I neither read nor write music, nor can I play piano with more than one hand at a time, but I have loved being able to work it all out for myself and make it sound the way I wanted. I've built these songs over years. The album wouldn't have happened any other way."
Though she wrote and produced the album on her own, she's not completely alone. Heartleap also features guest contributions from Devendra Banhart and Vetiver.
The album will arrive on October 7 via DiCristina and a day earlier in the UK through FatCat. Bunyan has also said that this will be her last album.
Heartleap:
1. Across The Water
2. Holy Smoke
3. Mother
4. Jellyfish
5. Shell
6. The Boy
7. Gunpowder
8. Blue Shed
9. Here
10. Heartleap
Tour dates:
10/07 Birmingham, England - MAC
10/08 London, England - St. Pancras Church
10/09 London, England - St. Pancras Church
10/11 Farndale, England - The Band Room
10/12 Manchester, England - St. Philip's Church
Heartleap features 10 new songs from the beloved folk performer. The album's cover, available above, is taken from a painting by her daughter, Whyn Lewis.
In a press release, Bunyan explains that she recorded the album on her own. "I wanted to see what I could do without using the ideas of others," she said. "If I'd taken these songs and gone into a studio with them they might have turned out very differently, perhaps more 'produced' — but not as near to how I hear them for myself."
Staying true to how she hears the songs in her head was an important part of the process for Bunyan. "The whole point of the album was finally to learn a way that would enable me to record the music that is in my head, by myself," she explained. "I neither read nor write music, nor can I play piano with more than one hand at a time, but I have loved being able to work it all out for myself and make it sound the way I wanted. I've built these songs over years. The album wouldn't have happened any other way."
Though she wrote and produced the album on her own, she's not completely alone. Heartleap also features guest contributions from Devendra Banhart and Vetiver.
The album will arrive on October 7 via DiCristina and a day earlier in the UK through FatCat. Bunyan has also said that this will be her last album.
Heartleap:
1. Across The Water
2. Holy Smoke
3. Mother
4. Jellyfish
5. Shell
6. The Boy
7. Gunpowder
8. Blue Shed
9. Here
10. Heartleap
Tour dates:
10/07 Birmingham, England - MAC
10/08 London, England - St. Pancras Church
10/09 London, England - St. Pancras Church
10/11 Farndale, England - The Band Room
10/12 Manchester, England - St. Philip's Church
