Despite singer-songwriter Laetitia Tamko’s singular talents, her career as Vagabon nonetheless traces a familiar arc. Like Sudan Archives and Mitski before her, Tamko has evolved from a DIY indie artist—on her bracing debut EP, Persian Gardens—into something approaching a conventional pop singer. Tamko’s third studio album, Sorry I Haven’t Called, leans in a more tonally upbeat direction than her previous releases, with help from Rostam Batmanglij, who co-produced the album. The result is a serviceable enough pop effort, but much of Tamko’s edges have been sadly sanded away.
Opener “Can I Talk My Shit” is so springy and breezy that the angst and moodiness of Tamko’s past output don’t just seem far off, they feel like the creation of a completely different artist. Here and on “You Know How,” her vocals feel devoid of any distinctive characteristics and are needlessly Auto-Tuned.
Tamko’s voice can be expressive, and she’s often savored the various imperfections in a vocal take or left in an off-the-cuff bit of laughter. But the opening few songs of Sorry I Haven’t Called abandon this approach, trading it for simple hooks and electro-pop inflections. “Lexicon,” for one, features a clunky chorus and a canned acoustic guitar riff that sounds like a preset.
Fortunately, the album’s second half—its sterling middle section in particular, from “Autobahn” through “Don’t Know How”—is vastly more rewarding. These tracks don’t strain as hard to fit into contemporary Spotify playlist formulas and allow Tamko to get back to the more the intimate, sophisticated sound of 2019’s Vagabon. These songs still employ synths and drum machines—and even jungle-esque breakbeats on “Don’t Know How”—but the way the elements complement Tamko’s emotive, sometimes wistful songwriting feels more organic.
Tamko’s voice is at its husky, smoky best on “Passing Me By,” and her soulful, pleading (and effectively multi-tracked) vocals on “Nothing to Lose” are bolstered by the track’s fluttering hi-hats and dreamy keys. Songs like these hit a sweet spot between unhurried and a little mopey but still effortlessly tuneful.
The album’s best embodiment of Tamko’s strengths—and a transcendent moment within the somewhat confused Sorry I Haven’t Called—is “Autobahn.” The track unfolds with only vocals and organ before incorporating some light synths and muted drums. But mostly it’s just Tamko reflecting on the minor ways she felt slighted in a past relationship, like a thinly veiled metaphor where some cavalier driving stands in for her ex’s reckless behavior.
The album’s final chapter is both a preview of where Tamko may go next—“Made Out with Your Best Friend” is a steely R&B number, strutting and sexy and outfitted with some purring 808s—and a reminder that she hasn’t totally disclaimed her rock roots. Closer “Anti-Fuck” mercifully brings guitars to the fore for the first and only time on Sorry I Haven’t Called, ending with bleating distortion hanging in the air. Would that the album as a whole were less good-mannered.
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