VACILANDO "Lost and (mostly) Found" (Fluff & Gravy)
Add Date: 3/12/2024
Release Date: 3/15/2024
FCC: Clean
Focus Tracks: Say It Out Loud, Berry Buck and Mills
Formats: Non-Comm AAA, AMA, NACC Top 200
RIYL: Low, Yo La Tengo, Joan of Arc
"This pristine, drugged-and-blighted Americana stuff is pretty potent." - Willamette Week
“In Spanish there is a word for which I can't find a counterword in English. It is the verb vacilar, present participle vacilando. It does not mean vacillating at all. If one is vacilando, he is going somewhere, but does not greatly care whether or not he gets there, although he has direction.” – John Steinbeck, from Travels With Charley: In Search of America, 1962
When Vacilando began as a vehicle for the solo work of John Shepski, the idea was simple… create an environment where the song could live and breathe in a space of it’s own, expanding and contracting as it’s surroundings (the room, the audience, the mood) dictated. The songs would incorporate ambient sounds and voices from the world around us, but they would also clearly be “songwriter” songs at heart. They would be loosely structured, but structured just the same. Ideally the songs would be performed by a rotating cast of friends and musicians, with the core of the band changing to suit the venue/mood/environment. That concept proved to be short lived. When Juniana Lanning (ambient soundscapes, percussion, vocals) and Chad Lanning (bass, bass synth) joined Shepski for a rehearsal at Fluff and Gravy Studios it was clear that the core of this band needed to be these three musicians. Born of 90’s College Radio and Indie Rock, John’s songs immediately took on new life when they met Juniana’s ambient/experimental leanings and Chad’s classic sensibilities. Joined by Jason Montgomery (pedal steel) and featuring Sharon Cannon (violin), the band is set to release their debut album, While They Were Dancing (Fluff and Gravy Records), on July 17, 2015.
Following their first record, Vacilando took a deep breath and re-entered the studio in 2017. Taking their time, and moving at their own pace, they laid down the foundation for a double-up’s worth of tracks, After spending 2 years crafting and layering these recordings, the hard drive where they were stored suffered a catastrophic crash in 2019 and the tracks were seemingly lost forever. The band was at a crossroads, faced with re-recording 2 years worth of work or just trashing the whole idea and starting with a new batch of songs. After spinning their wheels and wallowing in indecision for a while, they decided to scrap it.
Skip ahead to 2023 and the band discovered some bounces of the basic tracks in a forgotten text thread and to their surprise found that 4 of those bounces contained a workable foundation. Limited by what was contained in those stereo files, the band overdubbed new parts and cobbled together an ep, aptly titled Lost and (mostly) Found. Slated for release on March 15, 2024, the ep provides a glimpse into where the band was in 2017.
The band is fond of describing their record alternately as Bummercore or Bleak Midwestern Soundscapes, but just when the listener is drawn in and seemingly transported to another time and place, the band brings them crashing back to earth in a sonic explosion of screaming guitars and feedback. The music feels at once nostalgic and timeless, all while remaining grounded in the present.
In the end, Steinbeck’s description may sum the band up perfectly. In Vacilando’s world, the songs are indeed going somewhere, but they seem to be in no hurry to get there. Sometimes it’s enough to simply enjoy the ride.