THE VAGABAND
Medicine for the Soul
Eggsong 002

www.thevagaband.co.uk
 

This is the sophomore project from the United Kingdom’s eight-piece, Norfolk-based, ensemble The Vagaband that is helmed by singer-songwriter and guitarist Jose McGill along with pianist and songwriter Greg Cook. They are currently one of the leading attractions on England’s spirited roots music scene with their often exhilarating mix-up of country, blues, jazz, rock and soul with, here and there, a hint of ragtime – all percolating nicely atop a melody-rich bedrock of Celtic-informed folk. Performing on an alluringly exotic array of instruments including flugelhorn, marxophone, clarinet, mandolin, autoharp, hurdy gurdy, glockenspiel and spoons (not to mention a couple of “additional musicians” adding occasional saw, banjo, cello, double bass and trombone to affairs) they take the listener on an engrossing aural voyage from vaudeville and Victoriana strains through waves of that good-timey, brass-buttressed New Orleans sound out to the wide-open spaces of meditative Americana. The resolutely imagistic title track is the album’s centerpiece. It’s a breathtakingly heartfelt testimonial to the ill-fated Texas troubadour Townes Van Zandt with a slowly developing, cinematic arrangement a la Pink Floyd’s “Atom Heart Mother” – but you can actually drop that laser-beam down anywhere among the eleven tracks as the inventive ensemble moves from titles both exultant and pensive (the optimistic “Lifted,” a banjo-driven tale of a “Black Sheep” boy, and the nearly carefree “Whistling Song”) to murkier offerings inhabited by late-night party goers, love-sick sailors and strangers whose “eyes look the other way.” Also noted is the set’s sole instrumental – a contemplative “Ten Bells Waltz.” Unflagging medicine for the soul.

— Gary von Tersch