Vashti Bunyan: From Here To Before

The tale of singer-songwriter Vashti Bunyan has solidified into legend over the past couple of years: a brief flirtation with fame in the 60s and a debut LP which barely registered...

Dir. Kieran Evans UK 2008, 87 mins

Feat. Vashti Bunyan; Devendra Banhart; Adem; Joe Boyd; John James

The tale of singer-songwriter Vashti Bunyan has solidified into legend over the past couple of years: a brief flirtation with fame in the 60s and a debut LP which barely registered; decades spent bringing up a family and hardly thinking about music; then a re-emergence into the spotlight with a new generation of fans (represented here by the likes of Banhart and Adem) and a new set of songs which managed to surpass her early work. From Here To Before chooses to focus on one episode in the Vashti legend, a journey by horse-drawn caravan from London to the far reaches of Scotland, in search of a simpler life and possibly a place to crash at Donovan’s house. This was a journey which fed straight into the first album Another Diamond Day, and the glistening idyll we hear described in songs like Hebridean Sun is contrasted with the more messy reality of drizzle and hunger and arguments. Travelling companion John James recalls being told off for eating a Mars Bar, and Bunyan talks very touchingly about how their quest for simplicity seemed like a betrayal to the generation above them, “as if we were chucking all that progress back in their faces”.  Slowly retracing her steps, this was clearly a painful and therapeutic journey for the singer. What emerges is a portrait of a self-effacing but indomitable spirit.

Showing with The Archive (dir: Sean Dunne), a 10-minute snapshot of the world's largest record collection.

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