Vienna Teng.
One of my favorite recent discoveries is the music of Vienna Teng. I love the name. She chose it. It fits. A Taiwanese-American singer/songwriter from California, Vienna has a gorgeous, angelic voice that exudes intelligent sweetness, but is never saccharine. She has called her music “Chamber Folk”, which rings true. Influenced by Classical, Jazz, Folk and Pop, Vienna Teng sings on the edge of discovery. She flies higher, but doesn’t overreach. When she is not singing, just talking, she sounds more than down to earth. She seems relaxed about her place on the surface of this planet. But music lifts her off that surface again and again and again. From her myspace page: Influences: My parents’ record collection: Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor, Mozart and Beethoven, 60s Mandarin pop. That’s what I started with and it’ll never leave me. Later on, pianist-songwriters: Elton John, Billy Joel, Tori Amos. These days I’m influenced by whoever intimidates me. I hear them, I’m astounded by them, I think daily about quitting music because I’ll never be able to do it as well as they do. Then I try to steal from them without imitating. A tricky thing.
Click to listen to Harbor, by Vienna Teng Her background is a little unusual for the music scene. She got her degree at Stanford in Computer Science, and later went to work for Cisco as a software engineer. Angelic geek, I suppose. I don’t hear the influence of computers in her music, but perhaps she integrates them in the production phase. Her music is exquisite. For a recent performance on NPR, click here for the website …
Click to listen to Vienna Teng’s The Tower.Related Posts:
I am gratified to have enjoyed the company of Vienna Teng and Alex Wong (from the NPR site) during my quiet, third-shift, overnight work engagement. The music is appropriate to help me through this night-day and I intend to hear more. Alex Wong sings about bike-riding in Brooklyn at 4 in the morning, while I listen at the office (actually 30 Rock!), looking out on a black nightsky and the dumbfounded lights of the office tower landscape as the time approaches 4 in the morning in Manhattan. Vienna Teng is like Tori Amos and also is not like her at all, but she is more enchanting (and thus a revelation) as regards one point in particular, that her training as a classical pianist is put to wonderful use and creates as good an effect as you can expect. The textures are terrific in light of the history of all kinds of music. Thank you for introducing her.
So far, So good. Listening to Vienna’s music on her MySpace page. Melodies remind me a little of Joni Mitchell, or Judy Collins.. The voice is not like theirs, but the music, piano, orchestra…reminds me of Judy Collins on a rainy green day…
Thanks for writing about her… for the introduction…
P.S. She is playing on Dec 4 at Rams Head Tavern in Annapolis, MD!!!! 7:30????
Thanks, Robert and Lori. Appreciate the comments. I think she’s an amazing singer/songwriter, and seems very humble about her talents.
Looking forward to her new album early next year.