Vagabon celebrated 'Infinite Worlds' at Baby's with Mal Devisa & Jelani Sei (pics)
This past Friday (2/24), NYC’s Vagabon released her debut album Infinite Worlds on Father/Daughter and played a record release show in her hometown at Baby’s All Right. The show was sold out, the place was packed with people full of genuine excitement for Vagabon, and main member Lætitia Tamko expressed that she was truly grateful for the big turnout. Lætitia and her band (a bassist and drummer) sounded great playing the new songs. There’s a delicacy to the album but also some real crushing rock, and the band delivered both sides of their sound with ease. Lætitia also played a brand new song that was just her singing backed by electronics. It was a nice taste of what’s to come.
It may have been Vagabon’s show, but equally impressive was opener Mal Devisa. Mal played solo with just an electric bass and a kick drum, and she belted vocals that pulled from gospel-tinged soul. She’s one hell of a powerhouse singer, and a very talented bassist too. It’s not everyday you see an artist who writes full-sounding songs with just a bass but Mal does it. And the crowd was eating it up. At some moments the crowd cheered after every line she sung, and at others they remained dead quiet, too mesmerized by her music to make a sound. One person yelled out “you’re gonna be famous!” They might not be wrong.
Before Mal it was Jelani Sei. I missed them but our photographer didn’t — pictures of the whole show are in the gallery above.
Vagabon begins a tour with Allison Crutchfield soon and plays SXSW during it. She’ll play NYC again on May 6 at Brooklyn Bazaar with Nnamdi Ogbonnaya and So Much Light (tickets).
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photos by Amanda Hatfield
