• Album opener and former single Don’t Wanna Run No More is a strong start (...) Just when you fear that Vagabond have settled into an album long routine, however, they drop I’ve Been Wanting You, which trades the funk for synth-pop and really makes the most of Xenomania’s presence. (...) You Talk To Me ends things on a moody, chilled vibe that shows they know how to work up the ballad moments to optimum effect. (...) Vagabond have plenty in their arsenal and are nothing if not diverse. But the album could do with a greater consistency in quality, as this only really impresses in fits and starts. IndieLondon 3/5

• There are some decent moments, such as the hugely tuneful Don't Wanna Run No More and the downhearted Smile of Mona Lisa, but it's a shame Xenomania didn't add a bit of their electro-wizardry - now, that might have been interesting. The Guardian 3/5

• ’You Don’t Know The Half Of It’ has the machine tooled efficiency of prime INXS with the smooth blue eyed soul grooves of a young Simply Red. They sound like a stadium rock band in the making. The Telegraph

• The decision of hitmakers Xenomania to use one of music's most reliably sexless styles - mid-tempo wine bar funk - must rank among the year's strangest. Odd electronic feints and the synth-assisted "I've Been Wanting You" bear fleeting testament to the pedigree behind this debut album. The Observer

• The impressive firepower behind this new UK band include Xenomania (...). That means a familiar slightly brittle, high-gloss approach, mashing elements of bygone pop into something intensely 2009. But perhaps Vagabond’s greatest asset is Alex Vargas, a voice which seems to have been marinaded for years in American funk and soul. (...) There’s a lot of character to this set, and Vargas easily shrugs off any accusation that this is just another widget falling off the Xenomania production line. CityLife 3/5

• It really is a curiosity of a record, starting off so radio-friendly it wanders into Boyzone territory in places, before morphing into New Order (I've been Wanting You), then Girls Aloud (the riff on Ladelle is almost a carbon copy of last year's hit Can't Speak French) and the intro of Clouded Circus sounds like the Smashie and Nicey favourite You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet by Bachmann Turner Overdrive. Add to that Alex's Nickelback-esque growl (in your mind's eye he's playing air guitar on a windy cliff top) and Xenomania's big choruses and shiny production and you've got a record that's reassuring familiar but manages to sound fresh too. Evening News 24

Labels: Vagabond