Tiny Vipers

From the Mysterious wilds of the Pacific Northwest come Tiny Vipers. Tiny Vipers is singer/songwriter/sonic alchemist Jesy Fortino. Her first record Hands Across the Void is out now on Sub Pop records and one of the most challenging, hypnotic, and beautiful records I have heard in a long time. Her powerful yet cautious voice and strummed guitar are augmented with electronic sounds both sinister and otherworldly.

On her first visit to Philadelphia she sat on a curb on Chestnut street and chatted with me for a bit. Here are her thoughts on touring, recording, criticism, David Lynch, and Current 93.

GT: Is the tour going well?
TV: Yeah. Well, no one really knows who we are.
GT: I've read that a lot of your pairing with bands on this tour have been mismatched and you've been dealing with a lot of loud crowds.
TV: There have been a lot of loud crowds. There have been a lot of quiet ones too so it's OK
GT: Have you been working on anything new on the road?
TV: We really don't have time to do anything but figure out where we're going next. We're going to have some off time in New York which is nice. I have a lot of stuff on hold at home. I'm kind of anxious to get back to it. Music. Recordings. Sounds.
GT: I get a lot of records in the mail every day. It's hard to keep up, so a record has to catch me within the first two tracks.So, its a pretty amazing testament to your record that I have basically been listening to it non-stop. Sort of an unraveling process, trying to get to the bottom of it. I absolutely love it.
TV: Thank you!...thank you.
GT: It's probably my favorite record this year. I knew I was on to something about halfway through track 2, "On This Side" where you let out this sort of intoned, moaning harmonization. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.
TV: Maybe...
GT: It sort of sucker-punched me. I went back to that song and that moment four or five times. I wanted to make sure you knew you affected at least one human.
TV: You know I don't ever look at reviews. But someone emailed me last night and said "You know, I love your music so much and I want to punch SPIN magazine in the face". So I was like "uh-oh..." and I looked at the review and it was so mean. He said I was trying to sound sexy and all this stuff and I was like "What?!". It made me bawl.
GT: You know what you can do with that? Think of David Lynch...
TV: My friend just said that! My friend just said "Look at David Lynch who gets ripped apart regularly".
GT: Yeah, Lynch used bad reviews for the ad campaign for Lost Highway, the poster that hung in theatres said real big on it "Two Thumbs Down". So in a mainstream publication like SPIN which is only slightly better than Rolling Stone, if they aren't getting you it may mean you're doing something right.
TV: It was the "sexy" thing that got me. There's nothing sexy in there! I've been ignoring reviews up until now and that's the first one I see? So it's good to hear something positive.
GT: I understand you use the name Tiny Vipers as opposed to your own as a way to distance yourself between you and your songs. Is this to separate the songwriter and performer from the rest of your life?
TV: It keeps things apart. Like the SPIN magazine thing, that affects Tiny Vipers, not me as a person. It's an ego thing. If you inter lay what you do with who you are, and you are rejected or accepted in a big way it can fluctuate your ego. I try. It's very hard, but I try to keep them separate.
GT: Your lyrics are very abstract. What inspires your songs? Are they specific events or incidents or abstract impressions from your sensibility?
TV: They come from events i guess, but they are more Mythology...not mythology, per se...they are what I believe in. My own world that I have created to get through my life.
GT: That's interesting that you say mythology because there are recurring talismans in your songs: campfires, Christ, nighttime, so it would make sense that these are all recurring elements and characters in your own mythology.
TV: If you were to open my journals or look at my paintings you would see the same thing. There are just certain themes that I love. That just feel right to me.
GT: I can relate. When I write there is always driving at night, a dingy bar and the moon.
TV: Its the things we hold on to. Symbols. No one knows what it means.
GT: Another of my favorites on the record is "Forest on Fire". I love how it evolves slowly from quiet strumming to feedback and squall. It's really powerful. It reminds me of Fairport Convention's "A Sailors Life", or Pentangle's "Jack Orion". Its meditative, it takes you somewhere else. I live across the street from a scary swamp full of bellowing frogs. I love to put this song on at night, turn out the lights and gaze across the street.
TV: Wow! That's great! Wow!
GT: So how did that song come together?
TV:Well its funny. I didn't know how to end it but I didn't want to write any more lyrics. I had written it before I went into the studio. Right before I went into the studio I found this vintage synthesizer in a bush. It's the one I used for the entire record. It's an Oberheim Two-Voice synthesizer. It's the first one they ever made. And it was in a bush. I thought it was an amp, and I pulled it out and opened it and I was like "ohhhh...." That's what that undertone is on all the songs on the album, this crazy old synthesizer. I figured out how to use it enough to put it on the record. But with "Forest on Fire" I kind of wanted to have the song turn into a forest on fire, turn it into chaos.
GT: Has the synth traveled with you?
TV: No it's so heavy and so rare and really hard to play. Hard to control. I still have to figure it out. But oh my God, it's the best.
GT: That was put there for you in some divine way.
TV: I feel like that.It was just in a bush. It was getting rained on and for some reason its still working.
GT: In the song "Swastika" you start off asking a lot of questions. Who are these questions posed to?
TV: Anybody, really. Its questions you can't answer.
GT: I love the fact that you named that song "Swastika". It seems sort of a way to wrest a holy symbol away from it's 20th century ramifications.
TV: It wasn't always going to be called that, but after I wrote it i drew a swastika on the top of the paper and then I couldn't think of anything to name it after that.
GT: What music were you into growing up? What were some of your favorite records?
TV: Well, let's see. My family listened to opera a lot. My mom listened to a lot of New Age stuff. I liked a lot of Goth music. I really like Legendary Pink Dots. Skinny Puppy. Stuff like that, but that wasn't until way later. I really like film soundtracks. I love the soundtrack to Jurassic Park for some reason. If I like a movie I'll go out and buy the soundtrack.
GT: Were you listening to anything in particular when you were composing and recording Hands Across the Void?
TV: I go through these fits where I don't listen to anything or I'll listen to really dry, barren, minimalist ambient music.
GT: With this record out and touring, does this mean you may never have to go back to making burritos? or at least food service?
TV: I'm sure I will. It's written in the stars. I'm pretty good at working. I'm ok with it.
GT: So are you thinking about your next record at all?
TV: Yeah. If I could just record and bypass the touring I would definitely do that. I like the writing and recording more than the shows. Unless it's the perfect show.
GT: What's the perfect show?
TV: My CD release show was perfect. It was at the Triple Door in Seattle, which is like a sit down Jazz club. It was really quiet. I was really scared. but it was good. I was really scared for the show at Union Hall last night in New York.
GT: Were you headlining?
TV: No. we headlined a show in Boston which was good, but we don't have much draw yet. No one really knows who we are.
GT: Is this your first time in Philadelphia?
TV: This is my first time anywhere.
GT: Well, I'm honored to be the first Philadelphian that you know. You know, you are playing in a chapel tonight.
TV: I know! I've been excited about this show since I saw it on the list. Its a really cool goth space.
GT: Now I know you said you don't read reviews. But I read all your reviews. And I have to say I am really sick people mentioning Cat Power every time they discuss you.
TV: It's the female thing.
GT: Its so lazy
TV: I've been getting Cat Power for so long now I don't really care. I can see comparing me to Joanna Newsom.
GT: The one comparison that I do think is apt that I have heard is Current 93.
TV: I love Current 93. I like that.
GT When I bought their All the Pretty Little Horses I became convinced that it had haunted my apartment and made it an evil place. Heavy Metal has nothing on Current 93.
TV: Nothin's got nothin on Current 93
GT: Truly evil
TV: I love evil stuff.
GT: I have you seen Inland Empire?
TV: I loved it. I saw it twice, once with David Lynch introducing it.
GT: It didn't come here. Nothing like that does. We're too close to New York.
TV: I'm lucky being in Seattle. He loves that area.
GT: What do you listen to when you are driving from town to town?
TV: It's funny. When we were driving from Seattle down to L.A. and San Francisco in a van full of people. So I brought a pile of cds and someone asked me to put on some music, so its the middle of the night and I put on this really droning electro-thing that was virtually one note for the entire recording and everyone was like "Why did you put that on?". Then they wouldn't let me put on the new Circle record.
GT: Thank you very much for talking to me and have a good show tonight.

Photos by Greg Trout, taken at the First Unitarian Church, 22nd & Chesnut Streets, Philadelphia, Pa on August 25th, 2007

You can get your very own copy of Hands Across the Void here at Tiny Vipers Sub-Pop home.

Visit Tiny Vipers on MySpace

Tour Dates for October:

Fri 10/05 Portland OR @ Aladdin Theatre
w/ Jose Gonzalez
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Sun 10/07 Seattle WA @ Showbox
w/ Jose Gonzalez
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Mon 10/08 San Francisco CA @ Great American Music Hall
w/ Jose Gonzalez
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Tue 10/09 San Francisco CA @ Great American Music Hall
w/ Jose Gonzalez
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Wed 10/10 Los Angeles CA @ El Rey
w/ Jose Gonzalez
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Fri 10/12 Atlanta GA @ Variety Playhouse
w/ Minus the Bear, The Helio Sequence
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Sat 10/13 Charlotte NC @ Tremont Music Hall
w/ Minus the Bear, The Helio Sequence
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Sun 10/14 Orlando FL @ The Club at Firestone
w/ Minus the Bear, The Helio Sequence
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Mon 10/15 Ft Lauderdale FL @ Culture Room
w/ Minus the Bear, The Helio Sequence
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Tue 10/16 Tallahassee FL @ The Moon
w/ Minus the Bear, The Helio Sequence
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Thu 10/18 New Orleans LA @ House of Blues
w/ Minus the Bear, The Helio Sequence
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Fri 10/19 Austin TX @ Emo's
w/ Minus the Bear, The Helio Sequence
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Sat 10/20 Houston TX @ Numbers
w/ Minus the Bear, The Helio Sequence
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Sun 10/21 Dallas TX @ Palladium Showroom
w/ Minus the Bear, The Helio Sequence
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Tue 10/23 Tulsa OK @ Cain's Ballroom
w/ Minus the Bear, The Helio Sequence
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Wed 10/24 Lawrence KS @ Granada Theatre
w/ Minus the Bear, The Helio Sequence
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Thu 10/25 Sauget IL @ Pops
w/ Minus the Bear, The Helio Sequence
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Sun 10/28 Chicago IL @ Schubas
w/ Great Lake Swimmers