Vienna Teng goes inward for inspiration

Vienna Teng is driving through Florida, a long way from her New York apartment, ready to play another show on her ongoing national tour. For weeks, she has been promotingher latest album Inland Territory, an acoustic, ethereal set driven by Teng’s soft, introspective voice. It’s the kind of singer/songwriter musings that would have recieved top billing at Lilith Fair. While her music may sound a decade late, Teng has garnered a growing following of fans ever since the 30-year-old software engineer-turned-singer turned heads with her auspicious 2004 debut.

Some musicians might consider the bohemian life of a touring artist the bane of theircareers, but not Teng. She welcomes the constant change of scenery.

“I think being in a new place forces a lot of introspection,” says Teng. “You see thing with new eyes and it provokes a lot of creativity.”

Craving a new outlet for creativity was the reason Teng left the Bay Area for the pulsating activity of New York City.

“I’m surrounded by representatives from the whole world,” says Teng. “It forces you to be more aware. It forces you to ask where you fit in this world.”

Teng began asking these deep questions ever since she was a serious-minded 10-year-old growing up in Saratoga, Calif. Born Cynthia Yih Shih, Teng decided to drop her given name for a new musical identity. The name Vienna comes from the Austrian city, the birthplace of the classical pieces Teng grew up listening to. Discovering music at an early age, Teng began writing songs about weighty issues.

“I’d write about grandiose things,” says Teng. “I’d write about the history of civilization, nature, and of love and beauty. It was pretty complex stuff for a 10-year-old. But I made a pact with myself not to write ever write love songs. I thought they were so dumb. But ofcourse I broke that rule when I became teenager.”

Always the overachiever, Teng excelled in academics. Although she says her heart wasalways with music, Teng chose to major in computer science at Stanford University, partly to appease her Taiwanese immigrant parents.

“My parents encouraged my musical sensibilities, but they wanted me to be practical inmy career choices,” says Teng. “I wanted to continue writing, but I knew that if did, I would have to pay my dues. I thought, why be a starving artist working minimum wage ata coffee shop? At least as an engineer I can eat and pay my rent while writing and performing.”

Just months after quitting her job at her computer software company following the release of her first album Waking Hour, Teng found herself on NPR and performing on The Late Show with David Letterman.

A self-professed dork, the newfound attention also brought Teng pressure to conform to amore glamorous image.

“That part has always been difficult to reconcile,” says Teng. “Sometimes I feel like I should keep up an image because that’s the way the music sounds. I’m not naturally astylish person and I’d do photoshoots where they’d put way too much makeup on me. ButI think I’ve arrived at the point where I’m comfortable with my look. I think the outward appearance reflects the music.”

Now with Inland Territory, her fourth album,Teng has continued to recreate herself, thistime looking inward for inspiration. While the soft, piano-driven tunes are still present with songs like “The Last Snowfall,”and “Kansas,” Teng goes more uptempo in “Stray Italian Greyhound” and “Antebellum.”

“Some of the songs are intensely personal, but some of them have nothing to do with me,” says Teng.But the source of their inspiration all come from the same place. In “No Gringo,” Tenglays out her feelings about a controversial topic, painting a picture of an illegal immigrantborder crossing attempt in Mexico.

“The inspiration, whether from my own experiences, or from outside events, people orplaces, they’re my own thoughts and feelings,” says Teng. “Whatever I write about, Iwrite from my inner self and I don’t think that would ever change.”

by: Hazel Lodevico