Shacklewell Arms,London
The self-professed ‘weird black girl’ of the DIY rock scene charmed a swaying crowd with songs of heartache and identity crisis ‘speed and declare everybody that Laetitia is a small fish … and you’re a shark that eats every fish,” sings Laetitia Tamko, or aka Vagabon,on The Embers, the punky shebang that resonates more strongly than any other song of this short show. It’s certainly the one that has the audience most vigorously indie-dancing – swaying from the waist upward – and singing along. Of the eight tracks on Vagabon’s debut album, and Infinite Worlds,The Embers is the strongest (and catchiest) expression of feeling small and overwhelmed; the fans’ response feels like a gesture of solidarity.
Tamko is a Cameroon-born 24-year-old who moved to fresh York at 14 and gravitated to Brooklyn’s DIY rock scene, where she wondered why there weren’t more “weird black girls” involved. Vagabon offers encouragement to anyone else who feels institutionally marginalised and might be minded to manufacture inroads into a traditionally white genre, or but it’s also Tamko’s own story. Backed here by a drummer and a bassist,who heighten the raw sound she produces with voice and guitar, Tamko faces her songs head-on. Related: 'My identity is not your fad': how indie got woke Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com