New single "We've Got You (i - Spark)" out today
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Hi Reader, It's music release season around here! Start of a new school year, full swing of election campaigning: it's a time of forward motion, of choosing who we want to be now. It's a good moment to send something out of the recording studio, into people's ears at last. This Friday, I'm releasing "We've Got You (i - Spark)," a kind of love letter to inspiring leaders and thinkers. This song took a very, very winding way through the thicket of the recording process. Early on, we got golden performances from drummer-percussionist Terence F. Clark and Chauntee & Monique Ross of violin-cello duo SistaStrings. But finding the rest of the track took Jordan Brooke Hamlin and me nearly two years, on and off, and things didn't even quite fall into place until Peter Katis brought his mixing magic. Many thanks to my Patreon community, whose support made it possible to keep backtracking and tinkering until the song sounded like itself. I love the final result, and I hope you will too. (If you're on Patreon, you already have the song in your inbox in case you missed it!) Next week, we'll also be premiering a beautiful music video for "We've Got You (i - Spark)," by paper-cut animation artist Andrew Benincasa. (If you're on Patreon, you'll get this early too - tomorrow, in fact.) ON TOUR We kicked off fall tour with some electric sold-out shows in the San Francisco Bay Area and L.A. last weekend. The Civic Happy Hours at these shows buzzed with productive energy; we ran out of Vote Forward letters, and several folks did every action on offer. Thanks to all who came out! One organization that garnered a lot of donations was Listen First Project, a network of groups working across the country to bridge political divides and rebuild space for trust amid disagreement. That's especially on my mind today. I was to play at Clark State in Springfield, Ohio this Thursday: yes, that Springfield, where ugly false rumors have translated into bomb threats and campus shutdowns, among other things. So no activities at Clark this week, including concerts. I can't imagine what it's like in the Haitian community in Springfield right now. Degraded public discourse has real consequences. Campaign donations, getting out the vote, and voting protections do a lot to keep fear-mongerers out of office. But we also need to build off-ramps for the voters who are currently under their spell. We can write different songs to resonate in their hearts.
How are you doing in this season? As always, I want to hear. Love, |
Vienna Teng
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