Pitchfork

Like a snake in the grass, Tiny Vipers' "On This Side" sneaks up quietly. Seattle singer-songwriter Jesy Fortino, who records as Tiny Vipers, strums slow, atypical acoustic-guitar chords on this advance MP3 from her forthcoming Sub Pop debut, Hands Across the Void. Her reedy voice falls somewhere between Joanna Newsom and Colin Meloy, with whom she shares an interest in detail-rich storytelling. "They laughed back when I tried to dance with you/ 'Cause they tied my left to my right shoe," Fortino sings, joined by the subtle electric-guitar sketches of ex-Austin mainstay Ben Cissner (Whalebones, See Me River, Windsor for the Derby). With no percussion and a run time of nearly six minutes, the track offers plenty of space to get lost waiting for Tiny Vipers' delicate songcraft to strike, as it does-- suddenly, perhaps, but just as quietly.

MP3: > Tiny Vipers: "On This Side"
[from Hands Across the Void; due 7/24/07 on Sub Pop]