Why Vagabon Made an Upbeat Album in Mourning

Sound & Vision
Hosted by Emily Fox

Vagabon's third album, Sorry I Haven’t Called, was written following the passing of her dear friend and collaborator, Eric Littmann.

Subscribe Here:

Apple PodcastsGoogle Podcasts Overcast Podcasts  Pocket Casts  Spotify

photo by Tonje Thilesen

Vagabon released her third album, Sorry I Haven’t Called, on September 15th. It’s her most upbeat, produced, and poppy album to date. It was written following the passing of Vagabon’s dear friend and collaborator, Eric Littmann. Vagabon talks with Emily Fox about Eric Littman’s impact on her, making upbeat music through grief, and retreating to Germany for a mental reset while she made this album. 

“I felt tremendous guilt about the music that was coming out of me in this time. I fully thought I would make a somber record. I had all these things that I wanted to say but it turned out I didn’t want to say those things on songs. I was having those conversations in my life . . . and so the music I was making ended up being kind of opposite from the grief I was living in. It really was a form of escapism for me and an honor to Eric’s life because he lived so vibrantly,” Vagabon says.  

More From Sound & Vision

KEXP’s Morgan Chosnyk talks us through this year’s Trans Musicales festival in France and shares five of her favorite live sessions KEXP captured while at the …

The Eurosonic Festival features emerging artists from Europe. DJ Kevin Cole talks about some of his favorite performances. Subscribe Here:   &n…

KEXP’s Meerah Powell has the story on musicians from smaller record labels who are pushing to get back their masters. Subscribe Here:    &…