Tiny Vipers

***Jesy Fortino has been releasing experimental folk music under the name Tiny Vipers since the late 1990s. She established herself early on with two full-length records released by Sub Pop. She would follow these with a number of experimental releases, a collaboration with Grouper’s Liz Harris as Mirrorring, and her most recent full-length Laughter. While in the process of writing and recording her upcoming full-length record of new material, Fortino has decided to unearth and revisit her earliest material that would form the foundation of her artistic identity. It is this material that comprises Illusionz Vol. 1.

Illusionz is a collection of demo material that shines a light into the past, illuminating Fortino’s musical roots. All of the songs on Illusionz were recorded between 1997 and 2004 on a variety of equipment: a boombox in a dilapidated house that was sinking into a swamp, an ADAT deck in an illegal punk squat, and multi-track cassette recorders in various run-down apartments of Seattle. Each selection documents a piece of growth, revealing all of the steps, stumbles, sketches and raw ideas that merged into her ultimate artistic vision and approach.

The songs on Illusionz range from seething social critiques (see “Billboards and Dumpsters” and “Out For Lunch,” for example) to the dirgelike poiesis of “Tired Horses”. Fidelities and structures evolve as Fortino stakes her identity in fin-de-siecle Seattle. Album climax “Watch My Body Die” fully bridges the gap between the past and present of Tiny Vipers, with its haunting complexities promising furtherance on her first officially published works. “Illusionz” closes the record with an abstract tape composition that shows Fortino’s graceful skill with non-conventional modes of expression. Sitting comfortably alongside idiosyncratic luminaries such as Daniel Johnston, Jeff Mangum (Neutral Milk Hotel), Jandek and the solo recordings of Kurt Cobain, Illusionz Vol. ” is an essential piece for fans of Tiny Vipers, both old and new.