[rating=7.00]
Born in Cameroon, Lætitia Tamko moved to New York at the beginning of high school and much of the content on her debut LP Infinite Worlds is colored through the lens of this move. Tamko aka Vagabon has been around music in its many forms in both Cameroon and New York and has become an accomplished multi-instrumentalist, playing most of the instruments on the album herself. Though Tamko herself typically listens to East and West-African music, her own music stays mostly rooted in Western indie-rock sounds. The joy of this type of juxtaposition is that Infinite Worlds doesn’t stay rooted to only one type of sound but explores different sounds within the indie-rock genre.
From opening song “The Embers,” Tamko shows the listener that she is a force to be reckoned with. Starting with a soft opening of vocals and electric guitar, Tamko is soon found singing in a much more powerful voice over booming drums and a snaking bass line. “Fear & Force” starts out in a similar fashion but about a minute in is joined by more electro-pop instrumentation and continues as one of the more mellow songs on the album. “Minneapolis” hits like a freight train after that with its riot grrrl sound and tempo. That’s when things take a decidedly different direction with the fourth track “Mal à L’aise”, which is basically a synth-scape with Tamko speaking French in the background. Though nothing else on the album sounds like this track, it goes to show that Tamko is not afraid to put whatever she wants on her album. One of the most beautiful tracks on the album is “Cleaning House”, which finds Tamko harmonizing with herself over an acoustic guitar bringing to mind Icelandic singer-songwriter Emilana Torrini. “Cold Apartment” is another striking song about a dissolving relationship where Tamko begins the song by singing “I know it’s my fault/I gave up on everything” and ends the song with the lyrics, “And we sit on my cold apartment floor / Where we thought we would stay in love / Stay in love.”
Coming in at only eight tracks and just under thirty minutes, Infinite Worlds feels just barely long enough to escape being an EP. However, the brevity is beautiful and does a great job of introducing listeners to who Lætitia Tamko is, and more importantly, leaves the audience wanting more. Though not every song is golden, looking at you “Mal à L’aise,” most songs shine bright and illuminate the potential for more great release from Vagabon in the future.
