NEW YORK - "Vagabond" is the debut release from Julia Boman, a promising 23-year-old Estonian singer who doesn't leave home without her acoustic guitar. Recorded late nights and weekends throughout 2004 and released last November, the 11-track record is a testament to the kind of genre-straddling persona Boman has developed as an artist.
She is simultaneously pop and jazz, and she sings her often melancholic songs in a focused, mature croon over contemporary jazz, bossa nova, dance, and even reggae rhythms. Her lyrics are in English and French, and her style is, like her name, international.
"International is a word I have always liked," said Boman. "It is what I feel like and what I would like to be - both in music and life, which I guess are almost the same."
Boman's life has always had an international edge to it. Born in the Estonian border city of Narva to a Russian family, she calls Tartu home these days as she pursues her master's degree in political science. She is fluent in Russian, Estonian, and English and can get along pretty well in French. For her record though she chose the last two.
Though the songs vary in tempo, style and production (Boman also produced the record), they seem to be woven together by natural imagery, and a soft spot for romantic idealism.
"Share the Moon," is the second track on the album and has been a staple of Boman's live act for the past two years. According to Boman, it's "a sweet bossa, totally romantic." It's also the kind of song that could warm the heart of any lounge lizard, and the recording is augmented by ambient sounds of the sea in the background, and features Marko Magi on saxophone.
Magi is, well, instrumental in creating the musical backdrop for "Vagabond." He shows up on the album opener as well, "Under the Snow," an even more existential acoustic jazz number with some ethereal lyrics penned by Jeff Graff, an American expat and musician in his own right who made sure Boman's prepositions were in order before signing off on the lyric sheet.
Boman also collaborated with David Bergot on "Le Sahara," a sparse and spacey composition by Sven Kullerkupp, who guests on piano throughout the album.
"This song is perhaps one of the wildest in terms of the improvisation of both vocals and piano. The concept of the lyrics is based on the opposition of the emptiness of the city and the mysterious richness of the desert, about longing for the reunification with oneself, I guess," Boman says of the track.
Boman also shares an acid-jazz track called "Amber of my Eyes" with James Wertes, another rising Estonian vocalist who has popularized the "Euro lounge sound" - a mix of soul, Latin and other world music, dance and contemporary jazz that dominates many an Estonian hangout.
It is this potpourri of styles that have defined Boman as an artist too, and gave birth to the album title (in case you are wondering, the vagabond is you, after you've traveled to Jamaica, Brazil, Mali, and Estonia on Boman Airways).
But while Boman's music lives in the club, she has every ambition of going other places. She markets herself as a pop artist, and recently filmed a video for Estonia's Eurovision competition singing a track called "Nevermore Island," competing against the poppiest of pop songs.
"Share the Moon"? More like share the stage. This is a young performer who has spent the past decade racking up awards for her music in Estonia.
With "Vagabond" as her platform, Boman has made it no secret that she wants to take her music as far as it can go.
"Liking different styles of music has grown into the desire to have concerts outside Estonia," Boman said. "It would give me a chance to be somewhat more free, pick up new musical influences and to learn more about myself."
