Manafonistas

About 14 months or so ago I was bitten by Tiny Vipers – the guise or persona adopted by the great singer-songwriter, who should be better known, Jesy Fortino. After hearing her for the first time – after one of her songs was posted on the Fleet Foxes‘ Facebook page – I think (I’m glad they’re called ‚pages‘ and not ‚folios‘!) I listened to whatever of her music I could find online and bought as much as I could. Her music is hypnotic, entrancing and captivating. What I find fascinating about it is that I can’t for the life of me remember what any of the tracks are called – and I haven’t really pored over her lyrics – and yet none of that matters, because each song is entirely distinctive and memorable, and despite that distinctiveness, each one addresses some universal quality, which every individual note, chord, bar and verse of every song (I’m not sure if there are choruses as such) – and most of all all every note – draws me inexorably towards – as did the Seirenes Odysseus. Of course, the difference between Odysseus and myself (apart from the fact that Odysseus didn’t support Southampton or have a driving licence) is that when her music is playing, I have no desire to stuff my ears with Bees‘ wax. On the contrary, if I had any Bees‘ wax, I would be tempted to turn it into another Tiny Vipers‘ record, as too much time has elapsed since the last one.