TINY VIPERS > Life on Earth

June 30, 2009 6:25 pm

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Videos by American Songwriter

Tiny Vipers

Life on Earth

Label: Sub Pop

[Rating: 3.5 stars]

As much a test of patience as it is utterly entrancing, Tiny Vipers’ second full-length Life on Earth shows acid folky Jesy Fortino in full stride. Even as she checks your attention span with sedate, gradual passages that clock in at just past an hour, its stark beauty makes for an unavoidable draw. With little more than her cavernous vocals and chamber acoustics guiding the way, Fortino hits an early peak with “Dreamer” as she begins to trade her naturally skittish elegance for an increasingly nervous yowl, lamenting, “I’m dying for a way out.” Shortly after, the album devolves into the hollow drift of “Young God” that strays between low-toned slurs and menacing voice cracks. Then squatting mid-album is the ten-minute title track, followed by dips in and out of consciousness in the closing four tracks as it slinks to its dreary conclusion. A daunting listen, to say the least, Life on Earth is like wandering through a damn cave, entrenched in a murky ambience and echoed drips unfamiliar with no clear end in sight. If you but run your fingers along its formless walls long enough, its contours, over time and calm, slowly become clear.