Vagabon

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Release Date
DescriptionExcerpt

Vagabon (aka Lætitia Tamko)'s self-titled Nonesuch debut album was written and produced entirely by Tamko. In this follow up to her breakout debut, Infinite Worlds, guitar-driven melodies are largely absent, and in their place are songs buoyed by hybridized analog and digital arrangements. Grounded by Tamko's expressive voice and knack for unique melodies, the album flits between genres, never lingering too long on one particular sensibility.

Description

Vagabon (aka Lætitia Tamko)’s self-titled sophomore album was released October 18, 2019, on Nonesuch Records, with vinyl due November 15. The follow up to her breakout debut, Infinite Worlds, it is an artistic leap for Tamko, who wrote and produced the entire album. Guitar-driven melodies are largely absent, replaced by hybridized analog and digital arrangements.

"'Flood' is a track I originally produced and arranged for a well-known pop-duo to have on their album," Tamko says of the new track, on which she performs all of the instruments. "Knowing I was writing this song for musicians I admire, allowed me this relief from my writer's block. I used this assignment as a chance to flex my production muscles and write something I wouldn't have written as a 'Vagabon' song a couple years ago. The result felt like a triumph for me in my progression as an artist and I just couldn't stand to part with the song by the time I was finished."

About Vagabon, Gabriela Tully Claymore writes:

“Break the rules you think you are bound by.”

That’s the recurring sentiment Lætitia Tamko carried with her through the writing and recording of her second album under the Vagabon moniker. Her first, 2017’s Infinite Worlds, was an indie breakthrough that put her on the map, prompting Tamko to tour around the world and quit her job in electrical/computer engineering to pursue a career in music full-time. Tamko’s self-titled Nonesuch Records debut finds her in a state of creative expansion, leaning fully into some of the experimental instincts she flirted with on the previous album. This time around, she’s throwing genre to the wind. Vagabon is a vibrant culmination of influences, emotional landscapes, and moods; a colorful and masterful statement by an artist and producer stepping into her own.

“I was in a pretty tortured headspace when I returned home from touring Infinite Worlds. That album contained some of the first songs I’d ever written, and more people than I could have ever imagined heard it,” Tamko says. ”I was proud to become a full-time musician and recognized how rare of a thing that is, but was also debilitated by the very same fact. Fear overtook me and I couldn’t write. I felt stagnant and unsure of what to do next.” 

That anxiety eventually thawed and gave way to a newfound sense of freedom as Tamko began to focus less on industry pressures and more on honing her craft as a songwriter and producer. ”With this album, I wanted to impress myself,” Tamko says. ”I wanted to be curious and I wanted to make big leaps as a producer. All I had access to on the road was my computer and Logic, so naturally I started writing songs electronically with what was at hand.” 

Vagabon was written and produced entirely by Tamko. Guitar-driven melodies are largely absent, and in their place we are treated to a collection of songs buoyed by hybridized analog and digital arrangements. While Infinite Worlds situated the last Vagabon project in the realm of “indie rock,” Vagabon is not easily defined. Grounded by Tamko’s expressive voice and knack for unique melodies, the album flits between genres, never lingering too long on one particular sensibility. 

Lead single “Flood” exemplifies this growth; the production ebbs like a gentle tide before a cavernous drumbeat kicks in and the tone shifts completely. “I know, even if I run from it I’m still in it,” Tamko sings over and over again, her capacious voice conveying a sense of resignation in the face of an external force beyond her control. The chorus is a hypnotic bit of pop alchemy that lingers long after the runtime.  

“The drums and vocal forward approach I took on the new album is drawn from my love for rap and hip-hop production as well as R&B and folk storytelling. That’s the music that got me excited about writing again,” Tamko says. In addition to those influences, the West African guitars and rhythms that soundtracked much of her childhood seep into moments throughout this album, in no place more obvious than on “In A Bind.” The song opens with a fingerpicked melody as Tamko sings to someone she’s been orbiting for a while but can’t quite reach. “I know that I was gone a lot last year/ But I hoped you’d still be here,” she sings. After that, words no longer serve, and lyrics are replaced by robust, choral vocals singing the refrain: “Uh-huh, yes, uh-huh.”

“I drew some inspiration from the Malian musician Ali Farka Touré while writing that song. There is a part on his song 'Savane’ where he and his band are feeling the music so much that he just says, ’Yes,’ in the middle of the track,” Tamko explains. ”It’s almost as if the music is coming from a higher power. That’s a staple in so much of the African music I love, and when I started writing ’In a Bind’ I was overcome in a similar way.” 

Tamko didn’t set out with one particular lyrical theme in mind when she started writing Vagabon, and as a result, this album offers up a spectrum of moods to marinate in. Songs like the album’s opener “Full Moon In Gemini,” the thumping bedroom dance track “Water Me Down,” and the collage piece “Please Don’t Leave The Table” illustrate blinding moments of personal insight that speak to universal themes. Other lyrics came to Tamko with clear intention. “Every Woman” is a thesis statement, though it arrives near the very end of the album. 

“That song poured out of me and showed itself as an anthem for myself and for all of the people who are marginalized by our society. ‘Women’ in this case isn’t gendered, it’s a placeholder for those who are not always welcome and not always protected. This song exists for all of us to see each other and find each other,” Tamko says. “The song is also a thank-you letter to the women who raised me, the women who look like me, the women who work in all of the genres of music that guided this album, ‘the women who run with the wolves.’” 

On “Wits About You,” Tamko opens up more space for those who have found themselves positioned as The Other when she sings: ”I was invited to the party/ They won’t let my people in/ Well then never mind, never mind, never mind.” Later, the stunning slow burn “Home Soon” finds Tamko meditating on what it feels like to truly belong to a place, a community. She’s joined by a consortium of friends, who sing along with her over a trembling string arrangement. “At dawn, I’ll be home soon,” they affirm in unison. “Home has always been a major theme in my music, and when I say I make music for outcasts, I am also talking about those who feel far from home or uncomfortable where they’re at,” Tamko says. ”To me, home isn’t a physical space so much as it is a mental state. I’m writing about wanting to feel safe and at home in my body and in my mind and in the community I move in. I want Vagabon to be a project that people searching for the same thing can connect with.” 

ProductionCredits

PRODUCTION CREDITS
Produced by Laetitia Tamko
Mixed by John Congleton
Mastered by Ted Jensen
Engineers: Laetitia Tamko, Jason Agel, Trayer Tryon, Eric Littmann, Andrew Lappin, Thomas Bartlett, Marvin Heine
"Water Me Down" co-produced by Eric Littmann

Strings arranged by Oliver Hill & Laetitia Tamko
Drums sequenced & engineered by Laetitia Tamko

Album cover photography by Tonje Thilesen
Layout design by Alexa Viscius
Art direction by Laetitia Tamko

Nonesuch Selection Number

599197

ns_album_releasedate
Album Status
Artist Name
Vagabon
MusicianDetails

MUSICIANS
Laetitia Tamko, vocals, drum sequencing, synthesizers, guitars, Wurlitzer, percussion, bass synth, drums, piano, textural samples, synth pad
Evan Lawrence, bass guitar
Oliver Hill, violin
Kate Outterbridge, viola
Emily Elkin, cello
Cameron Wisch, percussion
Eric Littmann, synthesizers, drums
Meg Duffy, slide guitar, guitar loops, textural samples
Taylor Simone Harvey, background vocals and harmonies
Sasami Ashworth, harmonies, bass synth, background vocals, french horn
Melina Duterte, trumpet, background vocals
Sen Morimoto, background vocals
Julie Byrne, vocals
Thomas Bartlett, textural samples

"Full Moon In Gemini (Monako Reprise)" performed by Monako with additional vocals by Laetitia Tamko

Cover Art
UPC/Price
Label
LP+MP3
Price
17.00
UPC
075597923896
Label
CD+MP3
Price
11.00
UPC
075597923889
Label
Cassette+MP3+Print
UPC
075597923742
Label
Limited-Edition Blue LP+MP3+Print
UPC
075597923483
Label
FLAC
Price
10.00
UPC
075597923902
Label
MP3
Price
9.00
UPC
075597923957
  • 599197

News & Reviews

  • "Tamko is a first rate singer-songwriter, parsing interpersonal relationship dynamics with frankness and a dry wit," writes KCRW's Marion Hodges of Vagabon (aka Laetitia Tamko), who stopped by KCRW's Annenberg Performance Studio to perform a full set of six songs from her new album, Sorry I Haven't Called, as well as "Water Me Down," from her 2019 self-titled debut album. Tamko also spoke with KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic host Novena Carmel about the new album and more. You can watch the performance and conversation here.

  • Vagabon (aka Laetitia Tamko) stopped by for the Nonesuch Selects video series, in which artists visit the Nonesuch office, pick some of their favorite albums from the music library, and share a few words on their choices. She chose music by Jonny Greenwood, Sam Gendel, Yussef Dayes, and Rostam, as well as her own new album, Sorry I Haven't Called. You can watch it here.

  • About This Album

    Vagabon (aka Lætitia Tamko)’s self-titled sophomore album was released October 18, 2019, on Nonesuch Records, with vinyl due November 15. The follow up to her breakout debut, Infinite Worlds, it is an artistic leap for Tamko, who wrote and produced the entire album. Guitar-driven melodies are largely absent, replaced by hybridized analog and digital arrangements.

    "'Flood' is a track I originally produced and arranged for a well-known pop-duo to have on their album," Tamko says of the new track, on which she performs all of the instruments. "Knowing I was writing this song for musicians I admire, allowed me this relief from my writer's block. I used this assignment as a chance to flex my production muscles and write something I wouldn't have written as a 'Vagabon' song a couple years ago. The result felt like a triumph for me in my progression as an artist and I just couldn't stand to part with the song by the time I was finished."

    About Vagabon, Gabriela Tully Claymore writes:

    “Break the rules you think you are bound by.”

    That’s the recurring sentiment Lætitia Tamko carried with her through the writing and recording of her second album under the Vagabon moniker. Her first, 2017’s Infinite Worlds, was an indie breakthrough that put her on the map, prompting Tamko to tour around the world and quit her job in electrical/computer engineering to pursue a career in music full-time. Tamko’s self-titled Nonesuch Records debut finds her in a state of creative expansion, leaning fully into some of the experimental instincts she flirted with on the previous album. This time around, she’s throwing genre to the wind. Vagabon is a vibrant culmination of influences, emotional landscapes, and moods; a colorful and masterful statement by an artist and producer stepping into her own.

    “I was in a pretty tortured headspace when I returned home from touring Infinite Worlds. That album contained some of the first songs I’d ever written, and more people than I could have ever imagined heard it,” Tamko says. ”I was proud to become a full-time musician and recognized how rare of a thing that is, but was also debilitated by the very same fact. Fear overtook me and I couldn’t write. I felt stagnant and unsure of what to do next.” 

    That anxiety eventually thawed and gave way to a newfound sense of freedom as Tamko began to focus less on industry pressures and more on honing her craft as a songwriter and producer. ”With this album, I wanted to impress myself,” Tamko says. ”I wanted to be curious and I wanted to make big leaps as a producer. All I had access to on the road was my computer and Logic, so naturally I started writing songs electronically with what was at hand.” 

    Vagabon was written and produced entirely by Tamko. Guitar-driven melodies are largely absent, and in their place we are treated to a collection of songs buoyed by hybridized analog and digital arrangements. While Infinite Worlds situated the last Vagabon project in the realm of “indie rock,” Vagabon is not easily defined. Grounded by Tamko’s expressive voice and knack for unique melodies, the album flits between genres, never lingering too long on one particular sensibility. 

    Lead single “Flood” exemplifies this growth; the production ebbs like a gentle tide before a cavernous drumbeat kicks in and the tone shifts completely. “I know, even if I run from it I’m still in it,” Tamko sings over and over again, her capacious voice conveying a sense of resignation in the face of an external force beyond her control. The chorus is a hypnotic bit of pop alchemy that lingers long after the runtime.  

    “The drums and vocal forward approach I took on the new album is drawn from my love for rap and hip-hop production as well as R&B and folk storytelling. That’s the music that got me excited about writing again,” Tamko says. In addition to those influences, the West African guitars and rhythms that soundtracked much of her childhood seep into moments throughout this album, in no place more obvious than on “In A Bind.” The song opens with a fingerpicked melody as Tamko sings to someone she’s been orbiting for a while but can’t quite reach. “I know that I was gone a lot last year/ But I hoped you’d still be here,” she sings. After that, words no longer serve, and lyrics are replaced by robust, choral vocals singing the refrain: “Uh-huh, yes, uh-huh.”

    “I drew some inspiration from the Malian musician Ali Farka Touré while writing that song. There is a part on his song 'Savane’ where he and his band are feeling the music so much that he just says, ’Yes,’ in the middle of the track,” Tamko explains. ”It’s almost as if the music is coming from a higher power. That’s a staple in so much of the African music I love, and when I started writing ’In a Bind’ I was overcome in a similar way.” 

    Tamko didn’t set out with one particular lyrical theme in mind when she started writing Vagabon, and as a result, this album offers up a spectrum of moods to marinate in. Songs like the album’s opener “Full Moon In Gemini,” the thumping bedroom dance track “Water Me Down,” and the collage piece “Please Don’t Leave The Table” illustrate blinding moments of personal insight that speak to universal themes. Other lyrics came to Tamko with clear intention. “Every Woman” is a thesis statement, though it arrives near the very end of the album. 

    “That song poured out of me and showed itself as an anthem for myself and for all of the people who are marginalized by our society. ‘Women’ in this case isn’t gendered, it’s a placeholder for those who are not always welcome and not always protected. This song exists for all of us to see each other and find each other,” Tamko says. “The song is also a thank-you letter to the women who raised me, the women who look like me, the women who work in all of the genres of music that guided this album, ‘the women who run with the wolves.’” 

    On “Wits About You,” Tamko opens up more space for those who have found themselves positioned as The Other when she sings: ”I was invited to the party/ They won’t let my people in/ Well then never mind, never mind, never mind.” Later, the stunning slow burn “Home Soon” finds Tamko meditating on what it feels like to truly belong to a place, a community. She’s joined by a consortium of friends, who sing along with her over a trembling string arrangement. “At dawn, I’ll be home soon,” they affirm in unison. “Home has always been a major theme in my music, and when I say I make music for outcasts, I am also talking about those who feel far from home or uncomfortable where they’re at,” Tamko says. ”To me, home isn’t a physical space so much as it is a mental state. I’m writing about wanting to feel safe and at home in my body and in my mind and in the community I move in. I want Vagabon to be a project that people searching for the same thing can connect with.” 

    Credits

    MUSICIANS
    Laetitia Tamko, vocals, drum sequencing, synthesizers, guitars, Wurlitzer, percussion, bass synth, drums, piano, textural samples, synth pad
    Evan Lawrence, bass guitar
    Oliver Hill, violin
    Kate Outterbridge, viola
    Emily Elkin, cello
    Cameron Wisch, percussion
    Eric Littmann, synthesizers, drums
    Meg Duffy, slide guitar, guitar loops, textural samples
    Taylor Simone Harvey, background vocals and harmonies
    Sasami Ashworth, harmonies, bass synth, background vocals, french horn
    Melina Duterte, trumpet, background vocals
    Sen Morimoto, background vocals
    Julie Byrne, vocals
    Thomas Bartlett, textural samples

    "Full Moon In Gemini (Monako Reprise)" performed by Monako with additional vocals by Laetitia Tamko

    PRODUCTION CREDITS
    Produced by Laetitia Tamko
    Mixed by John Congleton
    Mastered by Ted Jensen
    Engineers: Laetitia Tamko, Jason Agel, Trayer Tryon, Eric Littmann, Andrew Lappin, Thomas Bartlett, Marvin Heine
    "Water Me Down" co-produced by Eric Littmann

    Strings arranged by Oliver Hill & Laetitia Tamko
    Drums sequenced & engineered by Laetitia Tamko

    Album cover photography by Tonje Thilesen
    Layout design by Alexa Viscius
    Art direction by Laetitia Tamko