Music Review: The Vagaband, Medicine For The Soul

By Melissa Bratcher

It’s difficult to describe the sound of the UK’s The Vagaband. They’re a little folky, with a dash of vaudeville, a generous dollop of rock, and a not fleeting resemblance to Pink Floyd. They traffic in pastoral sounds with interesting instrumentation. Their second album, Medicine For The Soul, is a pleasant surprise; it’s chock full of banjos and horns, jaw harps and fiddle, and charming, ear-wormy tunes, as well as a smart cover of a Ween song.

The Ween song in question is “Gabrielle.” The Vagaband’s version breathes fire. The fiddle playing from Joe “The Bow” Wright brings to mind the Charlie Daniels Band’s “The Devil Went Down To Georgia,” and rhythmically they share the same DNA. Frontman Jose McGill’s voice hits the sweet spot of just the right amount of rasp and power on this corker.

The rollicking “Black Sheep” benefits from McGill’s slurry enunciation and curious vibrato. It’s a deceptively happy tune for the subject matter, but the point is brought home with a pretty harrowing verse dropped in the last third of the snappy song. It goes to the blackest of black humor, and it works.

“A Different Drum” begins with an overly long, experimental vamp, which made me want to skip the song. Luckily, I didn’t, because once the meaty part of the song begins, you are rewarded with classic, Pink Floyd-like, big sky feeling, slightly overlong but lovely, AM radio-like gorgeousness. The harmonies are wonderful.

The Vagaband make filmic music. The title track, an ode to Townes Van Zandt, features a drop of mariachi flavored trumpet, a staggering piano line, and delightful interplay between Ali Houiellebecq’s flute and Wright’s fiddle. The fantastic “Ten Bells” could be an instrumental from a broken circus–the organ that drives the melody in a drunken swoon gives way to Houiellebecq’s elegant flute. On “Town With No Name,” The Vagaband goes full on cinematic, down to the clicking of film on a reel, scary movie screams, and dreamy saxophone.

The optimistic “The Whistling Song” is a perfect road song: a warm sing-along with nice harmonies, fine fiddle and a smart loping bass line. And whistling.

Medicine For The Soul is a charming mash up of musical styles; the horn section sounds straight out of New Orleans, while the mandolin feels purely English. The music is tight and the musicians clearly work wonderfully together. The Vagaband have made an engaging, delightful album with great songcraft.

Medicine For The Soul was released on The Vagaband’s own Eggsong Recordings on November 24, 2014.