Vienna Teng

Inland Territory

(Zoë)

Record Review by Amber Henson

I think money can be detrimental to artists.  This is a sentiment that has been expressed before, but I don’t think I’ve ever really put much thought into it.  This isn’t the case where an artist creates something, and sells it and becomes rich and then no longer feels the push to create.  No, this is the other kind, where money allows them to create with more than what they created with before.  For instance, I went to a Coldplay concert in the spring of 2001, not long after their album had come out Stateside.  Chris Martin announced that they had just that day bought a batch of electric guitars.  They used them sparingly at that concert, but they were never the same after that.

Same for Vienna Teng.  I’ve noticed this with several female artists as of late.  Instead of just relaying on their voice, they bring in a string section, a wind section, and layer everything.  Sometimes it works.  Sometimes it makes the tracks lose what makes them special.

But Teng is a very smart artist.  She occasionally sounds like other artists, like Sarah McLaughlin or Poe, but definitely has a specific sound.  Many of the tracks on Inland Territory are high concept, involving concepts like racism, human suffering, or the Berlin Wall, but the lyrics never overpower the songs.

The best two tracks on the album are the ones where Teng doesn’t take herself too seriously.  “In Another Life” and “Grandmother Song” are both folksy.  “In Another Life” chronicles two people who are, seemingly, soul mates, and are continuously paired together in life.  An oboe plays around in the background, and clarinets and a piano join in from time to time.  “Grandmother Song” is an advice song, and starts with just Teng’s voice, with feet stomping and clapping.  The giggling at the end of the track lets the listener know it was all done live, which makes it even more whimsical and fun.

Teng’s sound is definitely evolving in a positive, if occasionally too complicated, direction.  Her voice, which never needed any work, is as mesmerizing as ever.