September 15, Vagabon, aka Lætitia Tamko, will release her new album, Sorry I Haven’t Called, via Nonesuch Records. Today, she shares one final taste of the album, a video for the Mariah Carey-inspired “Lexicon,” the most jubilant track on an album comprising the most playful and adventurous music of Tamko’s career.

Tamko credits album co-producer Rostam (Vampire Weekend, HAIM, Clairo) with taking the song over the finish line and unifying her vision. “I wrote the song, the verses, the chorus, all of the bridge, and all of that, but I couldn’t find a place for it on the record sonically,” she says. “When I revisited the album with Rostam in LA, he said give me a minute with it’ and he just got it.”

The devastating and unexpected loss of her best friend unmoored Tamko but also gave her a newfound clarity. “The things that I thought I cared about, I no longer cared about,” she says. “I had a realization that I need to make sure to feel everything that comes my way.” She decided to sell her things and move to a small lakeside village a few hours north of Hamburg in northern Germany to process everything. “There’s no linear path to grief, and everyone handles it differently, but uprooting my life just felt like exactly what I had to do, ” says Tamko. “I needed a place to think and go through my discomfort privately but to also explore the newness and urgency I was feeling in my life.” In the village, her phone didn’t work and there were no close grocery stores or restaurants, so she spent her time alone working on music.

Despite the palpable absence in her life, her new songs were her most disarming and ebullient yet. The first one she wrote was “Carpenter,” a mesmerizing track anchored by a tangible bass groove, where she sings, “I wasn’t ready to move on out / but I’m more ready now.” It’s a fully-realized track and feels like the culmination of her catalog so far. “A lot of the music that I was making there had nothing to do with my grief at all,” says Tamko. “Once I gave myself permission to make a record that’s full of life and energy, I realized that’s the point of this album. In the midst of going through all of these tough things, it became a record because of the vitality that these songs had.” For Tamko, there’s power in pursuing happiness.

Vagabon
Sorry Haven’t Called
Tracklisting
Nonsuch Records

1. Can I Talk My Shit?
2. Carpenter
3. You Know How
4. Lexicon
5. Passing Me By
6. Autobahn
7. Nothing to Lose
8. It’s a Crisis
9. Do Your Worst
10. Interlude
11. Made Out With Your Best Friend
12. Anti-Fuck

Vagabon 2023 Tour Dates

9/13 – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Paradiso ~
9/14 – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Paradiso ~
9/15 – Brussels, Belgium @ Ancienne Belgique ~
9/17 – Berlin, Germany @ Huxley’s Neue Welt ~
9/21 – Paris, France @ L’Olympia ~
9/23 – Minneapolis, MN @ Walker Art Center (DJ Set)
9/28 – London, UK @ Eventim Apollo ~
10/21 – Detroit, MI @ El Club *
10/22 – Toronto, ON @ Velvet Underground *
10/24 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg *
10/26 – Somerville, MA @ Crystal Ballroom at Somerville Theatre *
10/27 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts *
10/28 – Hamden, CT @ Set Space Ballroom *
10/29 – Washington, DC @ The Atlantis *
10/31 – Barcelona, ES @ Sala Apolo ^
11/2 – Lyon, FR @ Le Transbordeur ^
11/3 – Milan, IT @ Alcatraz ^
11/4 – Lausanne, CH @ Les Docks ^
11/6 – Berlin, DE @ Astra Kulturhaus ^
11/7 – Utrecht, NL @ TivoliVredenburg – Grote Zaal ^
11/8 – Paris, FR @ Pitchfork Music Festival
11/9 – Antwerp, BE @ De Roma ^
11/11 – Glasgow, UK @ Old Fruitmarket ^
11/12 – Leeds, UK @ O2 Academy ^
11/13 – London, UK @ Pitchfork Music Festival
11/14 – Nottingham, UK @ Rock City ^
12/6 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent *
12/8 – Seattle, WA @ Madame Lou’s *
12/9 – Vancouver, BC @ Biltmore Cabaret *
12/10 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios *
12/13 – Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room *

~ w/ Arlo Parks
^ w/ Weyes Blood
* w/ Nourished By Time

Pre-order Sorry I Haven’t Called by Vagabon HERE