Pensacola, FL – August 7, 2020 – After a quiet few months, post-hardcore act Vagrants have returned with an explosive new track. Fans can check out the band’s new single “Wither,” out now on Equal Vision Records, here: https://youtu.be/yUSINsKxRDk.
On “Wither,” Jose DelRio shares: “It’s funny how it feels like sometimes art and music can predict the future. ‘Wither’ touches on feelings of isolation, “lonerism” and the vast spectrum of feelings anxiety and depression provide. I never thought when we wrote/recorded this song last year that just months later we’d be living in a world where literally everyone is experiencing those very emotions touched on in the lyrics. I hope this song can serve as a reminder to people that it’s not just them going through this!”
Last year Vagrants released their debut EP Separation via Equal Vision Records. The EP’s title track originally premiered on Alternative Press and addresses the unexpected incarceration of the band’s original singer. Fans can purchase Separation online at vagrants.merchnow.com, or stream it in full via Spotify and Apple Music.
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 three-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), and Anna Hayes (drums).