Vagabon

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Laetitia Tamko , better known by her stage name Vagabon (born 25. October 1992 in Yaounde , Cameroon ) is a kamerunisch- American multi-instrumentalist of electro-pop , singer-songwriter and music producer from New York City , a self-taught professional musician with an academic degree in Software development.

Vagabon on stage 2017

Life

At the age of 13, Tamko and her family moved to New York City, where her mother began her law school education. They moved from Harlem to the Bronx , then to Westchester County immediately to the north , where Tamko went to high school.

When Tamko graduated from high school at the age of 17, her parents answered her constant requests for musical training and gave her a used guitar, an acoustic fender . She taught herself to play using Ultimate Guitar and YouTube guides. Since her parents were steeped in the stereotype of 'art is breadless', Tamko studied at the Grove School of Engineering, the engineering department of the University of City College of New York, and received her bachelor's degree in software engineering in 2015.

In the course of her student years she composed her first own pieces of music and songs. Already in 2014 she uploaded her own music to Bandcamp under the pseudonym Vagabon . That led to the publication of their first EP (cassette) Persian Garden that same year , released on the small independent label Miscreant Records from Brooklyn. She paid the bass player involved in the recording and the drummer from the jazz department of her university. In the summer after graduating from college, she went on her own concert tour across the United States for the first time. She then moved out with her parents, earned her living as a software developer in Long Island City and often played small do-it-yourself concerts in the lively indie and punk rock scene in Brooklyn in the evenings .

In addition to guitar and voice, she played drums , keyboards and synthesizers under her own name on her first album . Infinite Worlds was released on February 24, 2017 on the indie label Father / Daughter Records from San Francisco. It caused a sensation and was so successful that she was able to quit her job as a programmer for the time being and become a full-time musician. She was also invited as the opener act for the North American summer tour of Australian indie rocker Courtney Barnett and Julien Baker. The album was so convincing that the New York Times invited her for an interview in 2017. In the same year Audiotree Music released a live EP called Vagabon on Audiotree Live .

The National Public Radio devoted Vagabon the podcast from February 23, 2018 its Tiny Desk Concerts series. She wrote the next songs while touring the US club scene, generating income, where she appeared as an indie rock band , mostly accompanied by bassist Eva Lawitts and drummer Elise Okusami .

Her second studio album, initially with All the Women in Me and later only with her artist name, released on October 18, 2019 on the renowned record label Nonesuch , contains only her own pieces, mostly recorded and produced by herself. The ten tracks of three to five minutes each, recorded in various recording studios from July 2017 to March 2019, were only final mixed by sound engineer John Congleton from Dallas . In terms of sound, Tamko has decided to move away from earlier indie rock stylistic devices towards more electronic mixtures, for example the combination of acoustic guitar, gospel choir and “Orinoco Flow” synth sounds in the song In A Bind . Her own demands on the album are: no darkness, rather resilience and strength! ("This album is resilience and strength.")

The critics are impressed by the ingenuity of the musical development ("with both feet into new sounds and new horizons"). The Guardian review gave it four out of five stars and praised the album as both edgy and emotional ("both sharp and tender"). Her autumn 2019 tour of the United States with Angel Olsen led through event venues that hold an average of more than 2000 visitors.

Discographic Notes

Albums

  • Infinite Worlds (Father / Daughter Records, 2017)
  • Vagabon (Nonesuch, 2019)

EPs

  • Persian Garden (Miscreant Records, 2014)
  • Vagabon on Audiotree Live (Audiotree Music, 2017)

Web links

Commons : Vagabon  - collection of images, videos and audio files

supporting documents

  1. ↑ Girl of the Moment: Laetitia Tamko, AKA Vagabon, Has This Indie Rock Star Thing Under Control | , W-Magazine on February 22, 2017, accessed October 20, 2019
  2. ↑ Vagabon belongs to 'Infinite Worlds' , Nylon Magazine, February 24, 2017, accessed October 20, 2019
  3. ↑ Musicians on the Miscreant Records label , accessed on October 21, 2019.
  4. ↑ Details on the EP , Discogs, accessed October 21, 2019
  5. ↑ Review: Vagabon, 'Infinite Worlds' , NPR.org, June 8, 2018, accessed October 21, 2019
  6. ↑ see Allmusic biography
  7. ↑ Barnett will be on US tour with indie a-listers as support , including Lucy Dacus, Julien Baker, Waxahatchee and Vagabon, Paste Magazine, May 18, 2018, accessed October 24, 2019
  8. ↑ Rock's Not Dead, It's Ruled by Women, 2017 , NY Times, September 1, 2017, accessed October 21, 2019
  9. ↑ Freak-Folk Rising: Vagabon's Laetitia Tamko Tames Her Demons in Real Time , Village Voice of April 27, 2016, accessed October 24, 2019
  10. ↑ Vagabon Changes Name of New Album, Announces New Release Date , Pitchfork Media August 23, 2019 accessed October 24, 2019
  11. ↑ see Allmusic biography
  12. ↑ a b 'There Will Be No Darkness': Laetitia Tamko On The Making Of 'Vagabon' , NPR of October 15, 2019, accessed October 24, 2019
  13. ↑ Laetitia Tamko leaps with both feet into new sounds and new horizons , pitchfork.com, October 19, 2019, accessed October 24, 2019
  14. ↑ Vagabon: Vagabon review - indie star is expansive yet intimate , The Guardian, October 18, 2019, accessed October 24, 2019
  15. ↑ Matthew Strauss: Vagabon Changes Name of New Album, Announces New Release Date . August 23, 2019. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Vagabon
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Tamko, Laetitia
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Cameroonian-American singer-songwriter
DATE OF BIRTH October 25, 1992
PLACE OF BIRTH Yaoundé , Cameroon