Infinite Worlds (album)

Musically, the aesthetic of Infinite Worlds has been noted as nestling itself into the universe of indie rock.[3][5][6] Pitchfork reviewer Kevin Lozano called the record a "victorious...inimitable take" on the genre.[3]

However, it has also been noted as "varied", "genre-spanning" and "incredibly diverse", with sundry genres woven throughout.[7][8][9] Its sounds go "from folk to rock to pop, sometimes during the course of a single track."[10] It has been seen as a "mix of spikey noise pop assaults, stripped ballads and more haunting, anxious tendencies".[9]

Kicking off the record is "The Embers". Its sound has been likened its sound to that of indie rock trio Built to Spill and art punk / indie rock octet Modest Mouse, with its "anthemic steady guitars and booming drums" cited as hallmarks.[3]

"Fear & Force", the second song, contains backing vocals from fellow musician Greta Kline, known for her bedroom pop / indie pop project Frankie Cosmos. A "wistful" acoustic song, it features "lush" synths, "grungy" reverb and "steady" kick drums.[11] It is followed by the "surging" punk-pop of "Minneapolis".[7]

"Mal a L'aise", the fourth track, is sung completely in vocalist Laetitia Tamko's native French, one of the languages spoken in her birth country of Cameroon. "One of the most interesting tracks" on Infinite Worlds, it digs into "guazy" ambient pop, like that of the Cocteau Twins, as well as sound collage "made of a spectral chorus of voices, processed and multiplied." It is also "almost close to new age," being compared it to the music of Grouper and Harold Budd.[3] While some have seen it as chillwave and dream pop,[1][12] it has also been credited with "innocuously weaving late 1990s post-rock with left field electronica", yielding a "near instrumental".[9]

The "strangled" post-punk of "100 Years" is followed by "waltzing" indie pop on "Cleaning House".[7] The record ends with the "haunted" indie folk of "Alive and a Well".[7]

Infinite Worlds dwells on concepts of community, love, personhood,[11] and finding and sharing safe spaces with others.

Noting that Worlds conceptually thought upon "sharing space with others who don't necessarily see eye to eye", Pitchfork's Kevin Lozano summed up a point that the record kept coming back to: "the community you want to live in is one you have to make."[3]

"100 Years" employs magical realism to "paint recollections of a childhood home".[3][9] It dons a "spirited rebellion", with Tamko singing lines like "if we sell this house / I won't go / no, I won't go!"[9]

Ideas of displacement also appear, reflected on in songs like closer "Alive and a Well" on which Tamko sings "take what you need and go / don't look back and see / if the well is producing."[9]

The record has also drawn comparisons to A Seat at the Table, the lauded third studio album by singer-songwriter and record producer Solange,[8][11] though that record was rooted in significantly more neo soul and R&B territory musically.

• "Mal á L'aise" samples and remixes elements of an untitled song by Steve Sobs and includes a sample of Eric Littman's voice.[1]

Credits adapted from the record's Bandcamp page.[1]

Vagabon

• Lætitia Tamko – lead vocals, bass, drums, guitars, synths

Additional musicians

• Casey Weissbuch – drums
• Dominick Anfiteatro – bass
• Elaiza Santos – additional vocals
• Elise Okusami – drums
• Eric Littman – additional vocals (on "Mal à L'aise")
• Eva Lawitts – bass
• Greta Kline – additional vocals (on "Fear & Force")

• Laetitia Tamko – producer
• Christopher Daly – engineer, mixer, producer
• Jamal Ruhe – mastering

• Kaela Chambers – cover artwork