The Moment Always Vanishing

Vienna Teng's creativity is seemingly endless. Her songs cover a wide volley of emotion, expressing the great and small aspects of the human condition. But her songs are only a portion of why she is so spectacular live. On-stage with Alex Wong, she uses absolutely NO pre-recorded sounds. Instead the two of them use a simple looper to create amazing results: from the eerie backwards piano on "Gravity" to the use of cadenced breath as percussion on "The Last Snowfall." Her sweet, perfectly-pitched voice creates a mix of both eerie and beautiful. Mr. Wong is equally impressive. Not only is he an excellent singer, he is also a man-of-all-trades when it comes to musical instruments: the drums, xylophone, guitar, and an instrument of his own invention called a waterphone, which is of a sort the ghostly, weeping cousin of the violin, used in the shudderingly gorgeous "Blue Caravan." His own song "In the Creases" is one of the highlights of the live album, an unconventional love song with excellent overlapping vocals, very similar in arrangement but completely opposite from tone of the co-written "Antebellum," which is undoubtedly one of Teng's best songs of all time. Together, Teng and Wong are fearsome to behold, with a loose, unplanned setlist and dramatic style. The explanations of the songs are especially enlightening.
Pay special attention to: "St. Stephen's Cross," "The Tower," the raucous "Grandmother Song," and a thrilling rendition of Radiohead's "Idiotique."
For those especially interested in Teng's live performances, [...] is an excellent place to find recordings of concerts. Also, her official website sells a nice little 2GB logo-embossed flash-drive, which features not only some "bonus tracks" left off the live album, but videos of her newest studio album "Inland Territory" being composed and recorded. It's a wonderful investment!