Something Wicked This Way Comes is the third release from The Vagaband and is a collection of tracks brimming with narrative and atmosphere. Wide-screen Americana where the ghosts of carnies and the Wild West collide with New Orleans jazz, folk, blues and beyond. Yet there's also a more home-spun sound at work here too, the hook-laden melodies and a gritty soulful feel that evokes a golden era of British rock. Think Americana meets The Beatles' White Album. Pedal steel guitar legend BJ Cole was moved to enthuse 'I've been a huge fan of the Vagaband and their leader Jose McGill, ever since the release of their first album, 'Town & Country'. With the release of 'Something Wicked This Way Comes', they are they are right up there with the best of their contemporaries.' Recorded during the political heat of 2016 and 2017, a sense of foreboding flows through the ten tracks. There are satirical jibes (the title track), comic cynicism (Spiritual Man), epic ambient rockers (An Eye For An Eye which features a stunning guest vocal from Yve Mary Barwood of Morganway) and full frontal assaults (Not My Day To Die). The Vagaband are a UK-based roots rock band. Equipped with an impressive and varied array of instrumentation (pedal-steel guitar, flugelhorn, mandolin, fiddle and clarinet all blend with unexpected ease) the band draw inspiration from both sides of the Atlantic to incorporate Americana, Celtic folk rock and vaudeville into a whole that gels into an unmistakable sound of their own.
April 2018
