Dreaming Through the Noise

Vienna Teng | Format: MP3 Download

Product Details

• Original Release Date: July 25, 2006
• Label: Zoe Records
• Total Length: 47:03
• Genres: Alternative Rock/Singer-Songwriters, Pop/Adult Alternative, Pop/Pop Rock, Pop/Singer-Songwriters, Rock/Singer-Songwriters
• ASIN: B000UDN48M
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #65,451 Paid in MP3 Albums (See Top 100 Paid in MP3 Albums)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Still dreaming, August 9, 2006

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dreaming Through the Noise (Audio CD)

Most singer-songwriters didn't start out as software programmers, who then dumped the job for the sake of piano pop. In a lot of cases, it would be a stupid decision.

But Vienna Teng continues to prove that her decision was the right one, in her third album "Dreaming Through the Noise." It's not Teng's strongest album, but her delicately powerful voice and solid musicianship make this a quiet delight for anyone sick of prefab pop music.

"Blue blue caravan/winding down to the valley of lights/my true love is a man/who would hold me for ten thousand years," Teng croons in the opening song, over a bed of murky guitar and delicate piano. It's a soft, misty, slightly tense song that draws you in for the rest of the album.

That sound continues in the tripping melody of "Whatever You Want" and the sweeping balladry of songs like the quirky "I Don't Feel Well" and tries out a jazzy sound in the the rueful, meditative "City Hall." Teng trips down her ballads with rippling piano and lots of delicate sentiments, and lyrics written so that images pop right into your head.

If a few songs had been snipped out of "Dreaming Through the Noise," the album might have been perfect -- a few simply don't fit in, and don't grab you with images and musical beauty as Teng usually does. "Love Turns 40," for instance, is like a quirkless Regina Spektor song, a sound that Teng conquers successfully in the oddballish "1 BR/1 BA."

"Singer-songwriter" usually makes me think of coffeehouse singers, holding a big acoustic guitar. Vienna Teng is a different variety, with refined and complex piano pop and polished songwriting. She's like a less angsty, more meditative Sarah McLachlan, or a more romantic Regina Spektor.

Her piano is still the main instrument, whether tripping over a quirky melody, or cascading gently through a ballad. In addition, there's a bit of folky guitar creeping just under the piano. But Teng also adds some new flourishes, such as a viola, or the scrapy fiddle that pops up every now and then.

And Teng's songwriting skills are still excellent, with the lyrics knack and potent imagery of really good poetry. Even better, there's an element of human sorrow, love or thought in most of the songwriting: "For my true love is a man/Who never existed at all/Oh he was a beautiful fiction/I invented to keep out the cold..."

Though "Dreaming Through the Noise" could have been tightened up by the exclusion of a few songs, Vienna Teng's third album possesses the beauty and songcraft of her previous work.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another great album, July 27, 2006

By 

The Bookwyrm (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dreaming Through the Noise (Audio CD)

Like everyone else has said, this album is definitely different from Vienna's first two -- more polished, more "sophisticated" maybe. Other instruments beside the piano play a more prominent part. Her voice also seems smoother, a little less breathy.

My personal favorites -- "Blue Caravan" had me hooked from the first time I heard it on a televised concert from last year. "City Hall" almost made me cry the first time I listened to it, from the pure gladness that comes out of the music -- there's always a song on her albums that makes me want to cry...

"Recessional" is so beautiful it gives me the shivers.

The bottom line is, this is a great CD. New, different, but still that wonderful Vienna Teng.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Different.... It's going to take some time to get used to the new sound, July 25, 2006

By 

Anthony Vsetula (Englewood, CO United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dreaming Through the Noise (Audio CD)

First, let me just say that I was introduced to Vienna's music a few years ago, while dating a person who was intimately involved w/ her music.

I have to say.. the first two albums were hauntingly beautiful. There was a limiting amount of instruments in the first two albums.. allowing you to concentrate more closely on her voice and her words.

In this album, the music expands, competing with Vienna's vocals. To me, I would much rather hear her voice, and her words, versus a chorus of instruments.. I can get that elsewhere..

Her music used to be naked... now it's built up and surrounded by a group of talented musicians..

I am not saying that I don't like the album.. just saying there's an adjustment period for the "new" Vienna Teng.