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In mainstream Western pop music, Vienna
Teng is a rarity as an Asian American singer and songwriter.
But even if that wasn't a factor, Teng's music stands out on
its own. Her orchestral, classical piano dominated sound reveal
a somber, moody view of life that cover the arc of the human
condition: love, death, struggle, and hope. It's about the ordinary
things that seem to barely scratch the surface but when they
do, they make us see for who we really are. Add in Teng's warm
and expressive voice and impressionistic piano playing, and the
music is quite arresting and lush.
A native of the Bay Area, the 25-year-old
musician graduated from Stanford with a degree and worked at
Cisco Systems. But music was her true vocation from an early
age and wrote and performed during her college days. That period
was represented on her first album Waking Hour, which
was a number one album on the indie charts. On the basis of that
work, she was signed to Seattle-based indie label Virt Records.
This past February Teng returned with her
latest album Warm Strangers and is currently on tour to
support the record. Down to earth and soft-spoken artist, she
talked to NewBeats by phone about the new album, her music, and
how she got to where she is.
How different is your new album Warm
Strangers compared to your previous album?
This new album definitely would be part
of me having a bit of experience being a professional musician.
It was the first time I was working with David Henry [the album's
producer]. I knew he was a cellist and also I kind of got it
in my head that I wanted to do a lot of classical instruments
on the album and staying away from the traditional guitar-bass-drums
driving popular music. The sound of the album is pretty orchestral
and pretty acoustic, and that's the sound we were going for which
was a little different from the stripped down me and the piano
sound of the first album.
Vienna, how would you describe your
songwriting?
I've always struggled with what to call
my music. To a certain degree, it's what they call chamber folk
or chamber pop because it is pretty lush. And it is based more
in classical music. But I feel like the subject matter of it
is like folk music rooted in the modern suburban experience.
That's sort of the perspective that I write from the universal
struggle that everyone goes through kind of silently, and away
from the public eye.
Does your lyric writing reflect actual
experiences in your life?
My imagination has to be grounded in my
own experience. I feel a good 2/3 [of the album] is completely
fictional. It's just me writing about situations that I've never
been in or people I've never met. It's about being a fiction
writer. I try to create situations that feel realistic without
always being autobiographical.
One of your songs, "My Medea"
is a very emotional and powerful track musically and lyrically?
I wrote that song when I was going through
depression for the first time. It seemed very trite to write
about how I was unhappy. It really didn't seem like I can approach
it directly that way and make it a compelling song. So I started
thinking about metaphors. I thought about Medea (from the Greek
mythology about Jason and Medea and their adventures together)
and how she was a brilliant and compassionate person but can
really turn on you in an instant. That was the metaphor that
I used-being this child who was at the mercy of Medea who would
nurture me but can destroy me if she felt like it.
The song "Harbor," along with
"Shasta," is one of the few uptempo tunes on the album
and somewhat poppy and upbeat.
"Harbor" came almost purely out
of frustration that I write slow, moody songs all the time. I
laid some ground rules where I sat down that night and I said
it has to be upbeat, it has to be optimistic. That came from
being very pleasantly and surprised and grateful that my relationship
hasn't been weathered by my touring over the past year or so.
I think it gave me a lot of admiration and appreciation for a
family that have to deal with that, especially military families
whose husbands and wives are shipped off to who knows where,
and the courage that it takes to be there at home and say that
I'm here from you. It came out of gratitude for that. So it seems
like a happy subject.
Your music has been compared to Sarah
McLachlan and Tori Amos in that your sound is very subdued and
dominated by the piano.
For any artist, especially a new one, it
is kind of a double-edged sword. To be compared favorably to
an established artist is a great compliment. On the other hand,
there is the hope that eventually people will just see it on
its own terms. It just becomes dangerous if people think of me
as a Tori Amos wannabe or a Sarah McLachlan sound alike. As long
as people recognize that I am doing my own thing, then I really
don't have a problem with it.
You wanted to play music since you were
a child but you studied computer science and became a programmer.
I always had it in my head to have a music
career. I do remember being a kid and thinking the best thing
in the world was to become a film composer and write movie soundtracks.
That was really my first dream. It was really the encouragement
of other people--my parents put it in my head that whatever I
dedicated myself to had a good chance of happening if I was smart
and passionate about it.
Do you like performing live?
I was kind of afraid in the beginning that
I wouldn't enjoy performing because I think of myself as a private
person. I find performing is really energizing, and it's actually
made more so in front of new audiences who never heard me before.
Because subconsciously it raises the stakes a little bit like
well I have to introduce the song to them properly. If they never
heard of my song like "Gravity "I have to play the
way it was meant to be heard. The audiences I found are such
nice people-open and generous.
What do you want people to get out of
your music?
What makes me proud and happy is when I
hear from people who say they really adopted a song and gave
it a lot of meaning in their own lives. It just makes my day
when people come up to me and say, 'We got to know each other
through your music and listen to your CDs together and now we
are engaged.' That's the greatest thing. I originally wanted
to become a soundtrack composer and then go onto being the soundtrack
to other people's lives.
Are you still amazed of where you are
today?
It happens every night. At least during
one song in the set, I always have this moment where I look out
at the audience and realize that I am on the stage, and [think]
'Wow I get to do this for a living!' I am definitely in awe.
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