Artist Vienna Teng
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Vienna Teng
Sure, many of Vienna Teng’s singer-songwriter contemporaries go nicely with a relaxing scented candle and a thimble of lavender tea, but Teng plots, composes, and constructs ornate little mazes of song that demand a more active attention span. The pianist-singer (also a Stanford-educated computer scientist) doesn’t hide behind the clear, professional sound of albums like 2009’s Inland Territory; she instead pairs her silky vocals with arrangements that might leave some listeners drifting and wondering.Inland’s closing track, “St. Stephen’s Cross,” is a lot to process by itself: Teng’s keys loosely meander through a mounting, trembling glow of strings and cavernously echoing choir vocals.
Updated 05/11/2011
