LCM Song Of The Day: ‘Sea Will Return You’ - Eva & The Vagabond Tales
We head to Riverside in California today to meet our next LCM featured band. The Vagabond Tales is a multi instrumental music project that is centered around the songwriting of Eva Mikhailovna. The songs combine western, old folk, and ragtime into a musical melting pot, creating an very alluring sound that reminds us vocally on this track a little of Kate Bush. The song is taken from their forthcoming album ‘Unchartered Ocean’ set for release in the UK on August 23rd via Brooklyn’s ‘Mother West’ label.
Since the start of the project in 2011, Eva Mikhailovna released a full length album entitled "Letters From the Moon" in the fall of 2013, and an EP in 2016, titled "La Douleur Exquise"..Born to a musical family in Russia, lead singer and song writer Eva Mikhailovna began writing songs and lyrics at a young age. "Music has been part of Eva’s life for as long as she can remember — her first musical memory is hearing a piece of classical music and walking to the piano where her aunt was playing it. She learned how to play the piano before she could read or write…. the whole family would play folk music and sing when they would come together for meals.". While growing up in California, Eva would sit at the piano for hours and write out ideas for melodies that she thought could fit in with films she's seen.
Wanting to create music for herself that was honest and simple, Eva started completing songs and adding her own old poems to them. The music was never intended to reach other people's ears, but rather to therapeutically express feelings and emotions that had no words attached to them. After an invitation to play some of her music at a local college, Eva put together a small band and along with help from friends, arrangements to songs were completed and ready to be performed live. After encouragement from friends, relatives and help from musicians that she looked up to, Eva arranged a series of songs to be released as the album "Letters From the Moon". The entire album was recorded by Eva in a 1920's back house. A local newspaper mentioned the unique packaging of the album, which was printed on envelopes, suiting the theme of the album's title. A later article said the album contained the "best unconventional percussion," with Eva tap dancing on one of the tracks. For a few years after the first album's release, Eva played with a band, calling themselves "Eva and the Vagabonds." Together, the band worked on arranging an appropriate set of songs for the La Douleur Exquise EP. With the Vagabonds already being notorious for their "sad, melancholy songs," "train beat," and using what they have to get their ideas done, the EP was completed and released in February of 2016.
.During live performances, Eva is accompanied by a group of musicians whom are known as the "Vagabonds". The Vagabonds consist of accordion, bass, percussion, trumpets, violins, piano, and other various instruments, although more commonly the band can be found playing as a four piece group. Currently, Mikhailovna is accompanied by long time members Alan Arteaga, Jasmine Capitulo (accordion) and Jacob Pflum (percussion). The band continues building it's sound from the foundations of old time music and melancholy story-telling, bending the laws of traditional songwriting and sound.
They are currently doing a residency at Disney in Anaheim, CA where they can be caught playing their songs as well as some special takes on some Disney classics.
https://www.evaandthevagabondtales.com
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