Heartleap (studio album)
by Vashti Bunyan

From HoldenM 06/02/2023 20:42

I was quite smitten with this record when it dropped nearly a decade ago. Its delicate, angelic recollections on old friends, parents, childhood and so forth were soothing, if not quite as gripping or as instantaneous as other folk or baroque records I was into at the time. Yet, I've found myself coming back to Heartleap over the years. It has steadily grown into one of my favorite albums. Its unassuming, deceptively simple songwriting and storytelling bursting with a lifetime of wisdom and a peace of mind that hasn't lost one bit of curiosity. Few records are as comforting and poignant.

Where Just Another Diamond Day was a pastoral statement of authenticity and passion, and Lookaftering was a melancholy-tinged celebration of things passed and children and regret and whatever-the-opposite-of-regret-is...I don't know what this is. I don't know what it is all about. The past two albums were almost concept albums in the loosest sense of the term, and they perfectly complimented each other, which is what made me hesitant about her coming out with a new album. And I guess my hesitation was well-founded, though, perhaps my initial hesitation has coloured my view of the album. I can find things to like in the songs if I really try, but I just don't find it beautiful or captivating. My first thought on my first listen was that this is what someone who disliked Vashti Bunyan would think she sounded like. Softer than she has ever been, and seemingly saying less, both musically and lyrically, than she did before. I hope it isn't a bad reflection on me to be able to dislike something so readily by a person who has created two of my favourite albums. May this comment be rendered irrelevant by further listens, but about three listens in, can't say I'm too excited to listen to it again.

From rogue 12/18/2014 13:35

She sounds like the second coming of Nico with softer instrumentals. Simply gorgeous.

The sound of a light snowfall in winter.

From Mercury 12/04/2014 18:37

Absolutely transcendently beautiful. It takes glistening, stirring, intimate beauty to the zenith. It's truly marvelous. It brings emotional tears to my eyes.