Wait, Do They Even Sell Tang In Austria?

Kurt's on vacation, so today's entry was out-sourced to Mexico.

Vienna Teng

Dreaming Through the Noise

I have a lengthy, tragic, enduring love for Vienna Teng. Okay, none of that's true, but I discovered her music and have been eagerly following her releases ever since--even managed to see a few shows (and I'd see more if she'd ever venture inland from the coasts). I first heard of her on The Acoustic Sunrise, a Sunday-morning radio show that was syndicated through... KBXR in Columbia, I think. Anyway, I heard an interview that included the song Feather Moon off her then-latest album Warm Strangers and was immediately hooked and picked up all (well, both) of her albums and immersed myself.

Vienna Teng is a Taiwanese-American singer-songwriter-pianist who describes her music as "chamber folk". Dreaming Through the Noise is her third album and is the first that actually sounds like a cohesive work rather than a collection of songs, which is not to disparage its predecessors, mind you, just to highlight the evolution. The main musical influences going into it seem to be jazz and folk, but there's more than a dollop of Arabic flare dropped in (a curious choice, considering this is a post-9/11 album) and the occasional tinge of bluegrass.

Despite all that, the songs are rooted in pop songwriting sensibilities, so they creep under your skin and stick with you. She has a move-you-to-tears beautiful voice, the piano work is incredible, the arrangements are unique and well-suited. But I'm most fond of the storyteller aspect of her music. I can only listen to so many love songs.

The album's opener, Blue Caravan, is about moving, about giving up a life that you once new in favor of another (incidentally, the title is a reference to the make and color of the vehicle she moved with, although I enjoy the double entendre of it). 1Br/1Ba is about a horrible new apartment. City Hall is about couples celebrating that they are finally allowed to marry (although it's never stated explicitly, that those couples are gay is implied). Love Turns 40 is about a woman who is unhappy with her evaporating youth and projecting that anger onto her marriage. The album's closer, Recessional, is about a couple who know that they aren't right for each other and are sharing a brief moment before saying goodbye.

Dreaming Through the Noise pulls stories and influences from all different directions to make a whole that exceeds the sum of its parts--at times quiet, at times thoughtful, at times funny, often mellow, always enjoyable.

Favorite lyric: "She dreams through the noise, her weight against me, face pressed into a corduroy groove. Maybe it means nothing... but I'm afraid to move." (from Recessional).

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