Tiny Vipers

“She’s not telling stories; she’s after incantation and trance” – The New York Times Seattle’s Jesy Fortino has performed under the name Tiny Vipers since her teen years. Honing her craft in punk houses and squats, Fortino’s haunting folk elegies are as sparse as they are dense. Silence and space are key, inviting the listener into the shadows while illuminating the life that exists amidst darkness. Her first two full-length records, Hands Across the Void and Life On Earth (Sub Pop, 2007 and 2009, respectively) were masterworks of delicate, deliberate composition and instrumentation. Rarely has music this minimal made such a massive statement.

Years of touring and critical acclaim brought Tiny Vipers a cult following. Despite this, she largely operates outside of the world of mainstream music, preferring to keep her organic artistry undiluted by outside influence. A series of incendiary experimental releases preceded her third LP Laughter (Ba Da Bing!, 2017). A collection of electronic tracks buried beneath a pane of frosted- glass tape hiss, Laughter shone a light on yet another facet of Fortino’s prismatic musical identity. 2021’s American Prayer EP saw a return to the acoustic music of her early releases, its three tracks setting an outstanding groundwork for her next full-length record.

While Tiny Vipers has shared a stage with the likes of Patti Smith, Damo Suzuki and Liz Harris’ Grouper, her artistic identity has remained as elusive and mysterious as her music, which stands as some of the most phenomenal of the 21st century. It is seldom that we encounter an artist as unique and singular as Tiny Vipers. Her latest record, Tormentor, is available on all formats.