Post-hardcore act Vagrants share “Separation,” streaming now on Alternative Press. Additionally, the band has announced their debut EP, Separation, will be released on April 26th via Equal Vision Records. Pre-orders are now available at vagrants.merchnow.com.
“‘Separation’ is a very personal track for me,” shares guitarist Jose DelRio. “Our previous vocalist was arrested right before a planned tour, and just months before going to record the EP ‘Separation.'”
He continues: “Honestly, things were bleak and I really wasn’t certain what the future held for myself and the band at that point. Lyrically, the song touches on a very low point in my life and also serves to connect the dots conceptually for the EP.”
Letting go is hard, but if you want to move forward, it’s something you have to do. Vagrants know this better than most. Last year, the band were rocked when their original vocalist announced that he was to spend time in jail. The news initially dealt a huge blow to their ranks, particularly in the case of guitarist, co-vocalist and chief songwriter DelRio, who’d founded the band with drummer Anna Hayes in 2017. Having made waves via debut single “Window Panes” and with plans in place for a follow-up EP, the discovery that their frontman was to face incarceration threatened to shackle a bright young group just when they looked set to break-out of the local Pensacola scene.
With a good portion of their debut record already written, Vagrants regrouped and pressed ahead with recording. Finding a replacement for their former singer in Dylan Knapp–a man who’d originally been drafted in to play bass before impressing the rest of the band with his vocal ability–Vagrants set about channeling their turmoil into a post-hardcore sound with roots in the genre’s star-studded past, but with one eye firmly on its future. Said record, the four-piece’s debut EP Separation, is a brilliant first move born out of loss.
From the self-reflective poeticism of “St. Anthony” through to thoughts on losing those once close (“Circle Of Friends”) and lamentations on a broken relationship (lead-single “Clarity”), Vagrants tackle all facets of the concept behind which their record is named. It all comes to a head on Separation’s title-track: the only song wholly written after Knapp’s recruitment, its lyrics attempt to make sense of the EP’s tumultuous inception, and whilst at times things get pretty dark, a powerful “carry on” message shines through.
Each of Separation’s five tracks is about losing someone or something close to you. An EP whose primary aim, according to DelRio, is to provide solace, comfort and catharsis to the listener, it’s a body of work which spans many facets of alternative music but one that retains its identity and heart throughout. A sound that combines They’re Only Chasing Safety-era Underoath with the raw intensity of Taking Back Sunday and the forward-thinking nature of Circa Survive and Being As An Ocean, Vagrants’ music is taking post-hardcore to territory previously unexplored.
Separation is the sound of a band refusing to give in and emerging victorious, and whilst its creators have had to let go of the past, in doing so, they’ve opened the door to a future bursting with promise.
Vagrants is Dylan Knapp (vocals), Jose DelRio (guitar/vocals), Anna Hayes (drums) and Jackson Taghon (guitar).
