- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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It's simply unlike anything else out there -- except perhaps Just Another Diamond Day.
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BlenderA gentle, reflective and often gorgeous album. [Nov 2005, p.132]
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The record's treasure is folded into layers which make it an endlessly rewarding place to invest a couple of months of your life.
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That Vashti Bunyan had the courage to step out of seclusion and follow up her classic debut is admirable. That she was able to do so with an excellent batch of songs is a joy to behold, pure and simple.
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Lookaftering sees her trading the overly twee vibe of her debut for a darker, more mysterious and mature sound.
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MagnetIf it takes another 36 years for something so sublime, I await the next 36 years. [#70, p.86]
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MojoAn oddly seamless follow-up to its distant predecessor. [Nov 2005, p.110]
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To say Lookaftering takes up where Just Another Diamond Day left off is an understatement. It feels like no time has elapsed at all since 1970, neither in her own life nor the outside world.
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On Lookaftering, it comes as a relief to hear not only how pristine Bunyan's delicate vocals remain but that she has retained her understated abilities as a songwriter.
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What makes Bunyan's return such an unqualified success is that, unlike so many of those she's influenced (Patrick Wolf excluded) she doesn't come within a country mile of the briar patch of cloying kookiness.
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This is no appendix, no addendum to Diamond Day, but rather a second solid installment in a career we music gluttons consider to be too sparse. Bunyan's songwriting, her assembly of musicians, and especially her voice are superb on Lookaftering, possibly more so here than they were on Diamond Day.
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Q MagazineThere's still something truly magical in the wistful clarity of her voice. [Nov 2005, p.131]
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There are very few artists who could pick up where they left off after ten years, or even five. To do this after half a lifetime is extraordinary.
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The album swells with beauty, but an intimate, unapologetic beauty drained of gravity or mystery that invites and comforts in one stroke, stronger than the gravest clock and gentler than a stray sigh.
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[A] collection of stunningly simple songs.
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The New York TimesPastoral doesn't quite describe it; this seems to come from some place more eco-protected than any in existence. [24 Oct 2005]
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Like all works of elusive beauty, Lookaftering is something that is so immediate and accessible it will take time to realize just how enriched with subtle evocation it is.
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UncutLookaftering is some kind of miracle. [Nov 2005, p.100]
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UrbBunyan's lilting ballads are as darling as ever. [Jan/Feb 2006, p.102]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 27 out of 35
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Mixed: 5 out of 35
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Negative: 3 out of 35
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MarkusP.Feb 9, 2007
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JulianPJan 31, 2007Thin, thin, thin.
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SebastianNNov 13, 2006One of my all time favorite folk albums.