Via Tania - Wonder Stranger video premieres on Pitchfork.com
 
Still-life artwork has had a varying reputation over the centuries, but from ancient times to Cézanne, the format has allowed artists a degree of freedom with light, color, and composition that can be hard to match in more naturalistic settings. Of course, the video for "Wonder Stranger", from latest Via Tania LP Moon Sweet Moon, isn't a still life, but director Michelle Ruiz focuses on a bountiful arrangement of fruits and vegetables that could've come to life out of one. Via Tania, aka Australian-born Chicago chanteuse Tania Bowers, sings in a wispy, elfin voice amid an ornate, music box-like arrangement that makes me surprised to see that her previous album was often described as "trip-hop". Vocal effects do add a certain spaceyness, but "Wonder Stranger" comes closer to Joanna Newsom than to Portishead. Bowers could be in a painting herself, her cheeks as hyper-colorful as the food and flowers around her as she works some kind of magic in the kitchen. Posted by Marc Hogan on Fri, Feb 6, 2009 at 5:30pm
 
Watch the video here.

Love,

Via Tania

xx