NYC singer-songwriter Torri Weidinger says that the songs in their sophomore album Bunny With Tunnel Vision (BWTV) have taught them to have a compassionate curiosity about their suffering, and that BWTV is a concept album exploring identity and self-hatred. Well, the songs in this record have a kindly sweetness as well as musical eagerness that speak to Weidinger’s sense of compassion and spirit of inquiry.
The sweetness comes from Weidinger’s gentle vocals that are serenity exemplified. The musical eagerness comes from Weidinger making full use of their band to craft detailed arrangements that frequently defy predictable compositional makeup where stumbling into moments of awe is not an accident, but a gift of serendipity.
“Floating” has an incredible guitar hook that changes sound from verse to verse as the song’s tempo itself keeps shifting. “OJ And Champagne,” which in the beginning has a tipsy nonchalance, unassumingly gathers serious Pink Floyd pomp with lush psychedelic guitars and full-on spacey atmosphere, completely changing mood by the time it ends and taking the listener on a “trip” least expected. “Got What I Want,” which kicks off with the most tender guitar picking sound, keeps building up as the music get fuller, with Weidinger singing as if they are reading from a book with the most dulcet voice, ending the number with equally sweet but profound questions: “What’s growing old without taking a few steps back…What’s a dive without trembling in fear / What’s a major chord without an ear…What’s being human without dismay / What’s a start without knowing it’ll end.”
BWTV is very much a folk singer-songwriter’s record. It is sweet and earthy, and genuinely sincere. But within its disarming humbleness, lies a bit of madness that desires to be lofty with its musical aspirations, so that the music can move you as much as the “singer-songwriter” lyrics do: just pick your spark of wonder.
