This means that musically, it’s all over the map – never betraying the overactive imagination behind the lyrics or the delicate alto with which she presents those thoughts and unexpected points of view to us, but definitely throwing curveballs that even a seasoned fan like myself would never expect on a Vienna Teng record. ![]() So here, three years later, comes an astonishing expansion of her sound into an album that she describes as more of a “mixtape” album than a “mood” album. She apparently decided after 2006’s Dreaming Through the Noise that the hushed, moody “chamber pop” sound of that record, while it produced perhaps her most consistent set of songs yet, would only take her so far. I’m still waiting for that disappointment to kick in, because Vienna has yet to do anything other than fascinate me. (Other than my relatively newfound fascination with Björk, I can’t even tell you who else I’d put on such a list for sure.) And all of the above made my expectations for Vienna’s new album, Inland Territory, so massive that I sort of feared I was overdue for a little disappointment. If I had to make a short list of my favorite female artists of all time, Vienna would definitely be at the top of that list. But her increasingly inventive storytelling and poetry, and the odd instrumental touches that have expanded her palette since those early days of channeling Sarah MacLachlan or Tori Amos on the piano have ensured that she’s a unique voice who can’t just be put into a box as “the Chinese version of so-and-so” or whatever well-meaning but limiting tags critics might try to place on her. She might not have the longevity to win my all-time top spot as “favorite artist, period” due to only have been around on a national level since about 2002. You’d think I would have jinxed her after slapping five-star ratings on three albums in a row (and honor I’ve given to no other artist in the known universe) and gushing about how relentlessly creative she was. I just don’t know how Vienna Teng does it. ![]() She is either (a) an indisputable genius, or (b) setting me up for massive disappointment later in life. ![]() In Brief: That’s four 5-star albums running for Teng.
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