The story behind Vagrants isn’t an easy one to listen to. The Melbourne based six piece folk band had been together for a while before their slide guitar player, and heart and soul of the band, Dom DiBlasio tragically passed away. Deciding to part ways after the tragedy, LAKE PALMER did have one last project recorded prior. Vagrants feels morose in hindsight, knowing the pain that everyone in the band is probably grappling with today. But, there are moments on the record that have you shedding a tear while pulling up a smile at the same time. It’s a deeply evocative piece of classic folk music that sticks to the grassroots of the genre and delivers tune after tune of emotionally resonant and harmony driven acoustic tunes that have you singing along over and over.
From the first moment of ‘Take My Life’ I felt a bit hesitant to finish the tune after reading the story. But as the harmonies start rolling in, I found myself more and more drawn to the music and invariably decided to finish the entire record on a single sitting. The simple ‘I will, I will’ on ‘Givin Up’ is bound to have you touched at your core. ‘My Girl’ might be my favourite tune on the record, a simple yet loveable tune that perfectly captures that emotion with the most minimal of arrangements. The gleeful guitar (or ukulele I’m not sure) on ‘Meet Me At The Station’ also became a tune that had me replaying it over and over.
One of my favourite folk records in recent memory. I hope the entire band is in a good place and rest in peace to Dom DiBlasio.