Laetitia Tamko, otherwise known as Vagabon, once again proves that good music is worth the wait. In the past four years, the singer hasn’t added a longer compilation to her repertoire, making her self-titled album the last full-length piece. This definitely felt like an awfully long time without the stellar artist in our conscious minds, but as the opening tune of ‘Sorry I Haven’t Called,’ ‘Can I Talk My Shit’ starts to play, it all makes sense. The 30-year-old doesn’t craft her art to go viral but instead captures her feelings as pure as one could possibly do.
The album was mainly written and produced in Germany, which isn’t just given away by the title of ‘Autobahn’, but mainly through the constant presence of techno influences in ‘Sorry I Haven’t Called’. Vagabon is able to truly intertwine bedroom pop with alternative and dance undertones, therefore making this an encompassing piece of work everyone can enjoy.
‘Passing Me By,’ ‘Nothing to Lose,’ and ‘Anti-Fuck’ showcase her talent as these songs possess the quality to be re-played on a loop without ever losing the identifying factor of their unique structure. They are as catchy and hypnotising as can be. And they can really mesmerise the listener through her excellent songwriting abilities and interesting backdrops.
Yet this time, the all-around vibrant sound of the album doesn’t necessarily immediately align with the sad truth that came before. “It’s because things were dark that this record is so full of life and energy,” she explains about the creation of ‘Sorry I Haven’t Called’. The record that was initially born out of grief after her best friend died in 2021, has become the best collection of art Vagabon has released so far. As lots of the songs have an optimistic outlook, she mentions that “it’s a reaction” to what she was experiencing at that time, “not a document of it.”
‘Sorry I Haven’t Called’, brings out the best dance music has to offer because although Vagabon’s music is soft-indie-pop at its core, she has somehow captured an intrinsically heavenly sphere throughout the twelve tracks, making it the best record to keep a tiny bit of summer inside of us as the autumnal air is taking over the outside world.
8/10
Words: Lauren Dehollogne
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