FEATURE:
Spotlight
Viji
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I have quite a bit to cover…
when it comes to the sensational Viji. The London-based, Austrian-born artist is someone people need to know about. Real name Vanilla Jenner, Viji is primed for greatness. Her album, So Vanilla, has won a lot of applause. It came out on 27th October. I will work my way to that. I want to cover off some biography and interviews first. Previous E.P.s, Are You in My Head (2020) and Suck It (2021), were pandemic releases that were hard to tour and promote. Both tremendous, her debut studio album has been released at a time when she scan truly strike! Signed to Speedy Wunderground, she is in very good hands indeed. Here is some biography regarding a truly wonderful artist that is hugely original and exciting:
“As a teenager in Austria, rising alt-pop artist Viji – aka Vanilla Jenner – was always searching for something more. Fueled by an obsession with US TV shows and pop culture of the time, she dreamt of making an imprint on this world. As a budding musician, she longed for peers who took being in a band as seriously as she did. “There were musicians around but no one who wanted world domination,” she laughs. “Nobody was writing songs.”
Years later and now signed to Dirty Hit, the artist is building a world for herself that fulfils all her desires. Since releasing her debut single ‘Cherry’ in 2020, she has marked herself out as a creative new force in the alternative sphere – both through her hook-filled songs and the inventive visuals that accompany them – with a streak of determination driving her forward.
“Put my head down and work hard / Reach my hand out super far,” she sings on ‘Cali’, the balmy title track from her upcoming third EP and a love letter to one of her dream states. “I’ve forever and always had an obsession with California,” she explains, noting that in the future, she’d like it to be somewhere she calls home for at least some of the year. “I always say I’m gonna work hard, and then once I’m there – wherever there is – I’ll move to Cali.”
With the determination to write her own story, Viji left home at 15 to spend a year in Colorado. Following many summer breaks abroad in the states (including Hawaii), she made one more stop in the south of the continent, spending time with her Brazilian side of the family.
Just as America seems to have been a constant in the new talent’s life, so too has music. Her grandfather was a classical pianist, her cousin was in a band growing up, and her dad builds instruments for a living. Even her name comes from an album. “My dad does a lot of folk instruments and Renaissance instruments, and apart from old school rock’n’roll, he’s also into weird elvish folk,” she says. “There’s this band called Blowzabella and they brought out an album called ‘Vanilla’. He was like, ‘That’s a pretty name for my future daughter’.” When Viji was embarking on her own musical journey, friends suggested she use her first name as her stage name, but she refused: “I don’t personally relate to whatever vanilla stands for in this world.”
If vanilla is typically associated with something plain and unadventurous, then Viji is here to challenge that perception. Over the last 15 months, the London-based musician has built the foundations of her career on songs that breathe new life into ‘90s and ’00s-inspired guitar-driven sounds, upping her inventiveness with each release. It’s something that’s already won her praise from the likes of DIY, The Fader, The Line Of Best Fit, Nylon and more. Her debut EP, ‘Are You In My Head’, was more straightforward plaid-tinged grunge-pop, before 2021’s ‘Suck It’ EP invited fresh synth elements into the mix, adding more dimensions to her core sound”.
I am going to get to a slightly older interview before coming up to date. Fred Perry shot some questions the way of Viji. When they spoke with her, she hadn’t yet played shows as ‘Viji’. An artist still waiting to bring her alter ego to the stage. I hope that we get to see Viji touring quite widely in 2024. She will definitely do some London shows:
“Name, where are you from?
Vanilla Jenner, Austria (living in London).
Describe your style in three words?
Baggy Bratz fits.
What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?
I saw Justice play at Red Rocks in CO. That was really special cause it’s this open-air natural amphitheatre and their set was just as it was getting dark. So you got Justice playing and the moon with Denver skyline in the back, really can’t beat that for a vibe.
If you could be on the line up with any two bands in history?
Fugazi and Frank Ocean would be crazy. I don’t know how the energy would match but I’d like to think they dig each other’s music... and mine.
Which subcultures have influenced you?
Skate, emo and rave, currently a bit of otaku.
If you could spend an hour with anyone from history?
Would love to have Elon Musk and Grimes in a room to hear their take on the next ten years.
Of all the venues you’ve played, which is your favourite?
I haven’t played any shows as Viji (✖﹏✖). I’m dying to though! I miss live music. One of my London favs is Electric Ballroom.
Your greatest unsung hero or heroine in music?
Alex G, I think he’s amazing! I used to listen to his Album 'Rocket' every morning. It has so many different genres on it and he nails all of them.
The first track you played on repeat?
'Don’t Tell Me' by Avril Lavigne. I just listened to it again for the first time in forever. Still a banger!
A song that defines the teenage you?
'Adam’s Song' by Blink-182. I was a moody teenager and def thought I was doomed to die young. So 'Adam’s Song' seemed appropriately dramatic”.
I will come to an interview from DIY from October. They embraced her “narcotic, ‘90s influenced guitar world”. There is a lot of attention aimed the way of this extraordinary artist. Viji is a name that should be on everyone’s mind right now:
“Vanilla Jenner might have spent her early years in Austria - an epicentre of classical music - but from a young age the rules and rigidity of the genre were clearly destined to be an ill fit. “I was never that interested in the theory; that was never my thing. With guitar I was like, ‘Ah, let’s just play four chords in my room over and over and hum over it…’” she laughs, tooth gems glinting and bleach-blonde hair scruffed up in a clip. “I was very much approaching it as a songwriter instead of learning guitar as a crazy skill. I would be a lot better at instruments if I practised like they told me to practise at school…”
Instead of poring over textbooks, however, she began striking out independently, cultivating the identity that would go on to infuse the gauzy grunge of her musical project, Viji. Aged 15, she spent a term in Colorado where her listening habits were turned upside down. “My friends there introduced me to a lot of music I didn’t know. The Breeders; Bikini Kill; we listened to ‘Totally Crushed Out’ by that dog a lot - I got into all of it just through depressed friends who were like, ‘Listen to this!’” she laughs. “Elliott Smith is like, my everyday companion.” After school, she made the move to the UK, wanting to break away from Austria’s largely non-English-speaking music scene into a place with wider potential.
It’s a mix of intuition and ambition that’s been there from the start. “I did think at 12 or 13: I want to be a rock star. A pop star, rock star, just a star… I didn’t really think about doing anything else,” she notes. And, having released a debut trio of EPs via Dirty Hit (2020’s ‘Are You In My Head’, 2021’s ‘Suck It’ and the following year’s ‘Cali’), her new home of Speedy Wunderground is proving a fertile base for both.
PHOTO CREDIT: Emma Swann
Written and recorded collaboratively with the label’s Dan Carey, Viji’s incoming debut LP ‘So Vanilla’ is a record that’s wonderfully, woozily out of step with the current market of hyper-polished pop. From the tumbling melodies of opener ‘Anything’, through the tetchy prowl of ‘Karaoke’, to the bare bones acoustic melancholy of ‘Blanket’, the record weaves between energy levels but maintains a sense of both sonic and emotional grit throughout. “We were conscious of keeping it purposefully raw to preserve the energy of the live show; of not making it super polished or perfect because the music I listen to is not like that,” Viji explains. “I know it’s 2023 but it doesn’t all have to be super clean and sanitised…
“Lyrically it all blended [together with ideas of] memory, romantic boredom, tiredness… It’s quite a depressing record!” she continues. “All my favourite artists and movies, everything has dark twists, so everything I consume is on the darker side of entertainment.” Shimmeringly narcotic recent single ‘Down’, she explains, is literally about the fear of being too happy to be inspired. “If you live a happy life and you don’t really have anything to say, you’re gonna struggle to have that drive. If you’re just happy, why do anything?!”
Emerging after a steady gestation period with a record that makes a clear, cohesive statement about exactly what kind of artist she wants to be, Viji might be at risk of falling into her own happiness trap. But on ‘So Vanilla’, she’s proven herself anything but plain”.
PHOTO CREDIT: Emma Swann
There are a couple of other interviews worth mentioning before getting to details about So Vanilla. Under the Radar Mag spoke with Viji about her debut studio album and what it was like working with super-producer Dan Carey. You can feel the passion she has for her music. Someone who wants it to connect with fans around the world:
“I definitely have the travel bug; I can never seem to stay in one place,” confesses the Vienna-born, Brazilian-Austrian artist, Vanilla Jenner, known by her stage name Viji. Thankfully, Jenner has settled in the UK to focus on her musical career. “London is now my base,” Jenner reveals. “I was born and raised in Vienna but hold dual nationality because of my father’s Brazilian heritage. I have a lot of family still living in Rio and regularly visit. I did spend a period of time in America on a student exchange too, but I’ve been in London for a few years now.”
Music has coursed through Jenner’s veins since her youth. Her grandfather was a pianist, and her father, an instrument maker. “Yes, my dad actually crafts Renaissance instruments. When we were kids, on long family journeys, Dad would encourage my brother and me to sing old folk songs and intricate four-part harmonies. I had a cousin who played in a rock band, which was more of an influence on the musical journey I wanted to take as I grew up.”
And that journey eventually led Jenner to work with award-winning producer Dan Carey, resulting in her wonderful debut album, So Vanilla, which is out today. They met when a songwriting session was set up whilst Jenner was still signed to the Dirty Hit label under her Viji moniker, and the pair hit it off immediately.
“I think we began working together around the time of my third EP,” recalls Jenner. “I was signed to Dirty Hit, but that was only to release my EPs.” As they continued to write and create, it started to become apparent that Dan’s label, Speedy Wundergrund, would be the ideal outlet for Viji’s work. “It just made perfect sense,” explains Jenner. “There’s a tight-knit group around Speedy, a whole scene going on there, and with me embracing a different sonic approach, it seemed like a very good fit. It’s a very ‘Speedy’ type of record.”
Carey has produced albums by Wet Leg, Geese, black midi, Fontaines D.C., Squid, Foals, Bat For Lashes, and many others. Artists often say, after working with him, that he’s a producer who doesn’t impose his own signature style on a record but rather respects and helps finesse the artists vision and perhaps nudges them towards sounds and effects that might work for their record. “Totally,” enthuses Jenner. “It’s been a really fun process from writing to producing with Dan. His studio is like this sprawling magical mess,” she laughs. “There are cables everywhere, but everything there makes such a beautiful sound. It’s very much a case of you go in and Dan caters for your vision. I’d never been involved in writing sessions with anybody before, but Dan seems to get what musicians hope to achieve and picks up the mood of the artist. He’s so enthusiastic—and has a sense of excitement when he finds something new—he’ll say things like, ‘Look at this, I’ve just bought it—and it makes this sound!’ It never feels like work when you go into a session with Dan.”
Amongst other things, Carey is known for his unerring ability to capture the energy and excitement of an artist’s live performance in the studio. However, with Viji being Jenner’s solo project, that wasn’t always possible, as she explains. “It was mainly me and Dan in the studio, and I had Yuri [Shibuici] from Honeyglaze on drums. And I did get my live band in for bits. My bassist did some backing vocals and also contributed the infamous screaming bit on [previous single] ‘Karaoke.’ A typical day recording with Dan would involve starting with some guitar tracking, and we’d do my vocals in the afternoon, as that’s when I prefer to sing. It’s magical watching everything come together; it was beautiful having a cello on a few tracks. I usually make sure I’m stocked up with lots of snacks so I don’t get distracted by any food cravings! And when I’m doing vocals, I usually have whiskey and honey and ready salted crisps. I don’t know if it’s a myth, but I heard that the oils in the crisps can help with your voice,” she says, referring to what Americans call potato chips.
The results speak for themselves. So Vanilla is a beautifully judged, perfectly paced album that allows Jenner’s ear for melody and her astute poetic lyrics to shine. When I ask if there’s a theme, such as dissatisfaction with modern life, or if the mention of religion is part of a wider theme she laughs before explaining, “There was never a theme, really, I just wanted to get my best songs recorded. Somebody else asked if it was about ennui, with songs like ‘Sedative,’ ‘Ambien,’ and ‘Blanket,’ but it’s a coincidence. The same with any mention of religion. I was raised an atheist and I’m not a believer in institutionalized religion, although I respect people who do. I mean I’m not a brutalist atheist in that I can see the beauty in the likes of cathedrals, but any sort of organized religion isn’t for me. I’m more interested in myths and legends and folklore from different cultures, any religious theme was certainly unintentional”.
It does seem like recording So Vanilla was joyful and fulfilling. Viji has now put out this magnificent debut album that will take her music to new places. Clunk Mag spotlighted Viji recently. If you have not added her album to your collection, there is so much to recommend when it comes to So Vanilla:
“George: Can you tell us a bit about what your year’s looked like so far? It’s been a big one!
Viji: It’s been substantial. I finished the record! We recorded it in November last year but the mix/master we finished in January. It’s been a lot of working on the record, creating all the content, shooting all the videos and bringing all the visuals to fruition. We really started playing live in March, going on tour with our friends which was really fun.
George: How has it translated to a live setting? Has it been a challenge?
Viji: No, it’s been really fun actually! We’ve been playing mostly the new songs actually which is really exciting. I’ve switched my band around a bit and it’s really fun because they’re my friends. As a solo artist, it’s a struggle to translate it live with the right people. My friends have made it a lot more enjoyable.
George: We love the album, it’s brilliant. Can you tell us about it, is there a concept? What should people be expecting?
Viji: It’s really not a concept album. It’s more of a collection of songs I’ve written over the last two years. The lyricism is definitely on the darker side, not to say that the music is. It’s mostly a guitar record, there’s only a few synth songs.
George: It’s quite a varied record. How do you balance noisiness and catchiness?
Viji: (laughs) I don’t really think of it in such detail. It usually starts with guitars, either at home or in the studio in a writing session. It’s mostly because I sing very softly and the melodies I write are more pop melodies. It’s definitely not on purpose!
George: Can you tell us a bit about working with producer Dan Carey and how you got involved with Speedy Wunderground?
Viji: It’s amazing working with them, he’s such a nice person. We randomly got set up for a session two years ago. It was really funny because I didn’t really know who he was, he didn’t really know who I was, we just agreed to meet. For me, it was a few days after having a few other sessions with somebody else and I was very tired. So, I came to the studio and said ‘let’s just write a really chilled song!’.
The studio is really fun, there’s so many things to fuck about with. Even though I was so exhausted it was so fun because he just totally went with the vibe. We weren’t here to write a hit song. It’s the last song on the record now.
He’s always been so supportive of the music and the process and it’s such a natural transition working with Speedy Wunderground.
George: What makes their style of production and recording unique to other people you’ve worked with?
Viji: I feel like the music I listen to is from the 90s and 2000s, so working in a space where it’s not all digital always helps. Not that I could necessarily hear the difference, I’m not a crazy analogue-head. It translates into the production and the rawness. Everywhere you go to the studio in LA, the sound is so heavily overproduced with effects. Working with Dan is so refreshing”.
You might want to know more about So Vanilla before investing. It is one of this year’s best albums, but here is some information from Rough Trade about a wonderful work. I get something new from the album each time I pass through it. An album that I would say everyone can get something from:
“London-based Austrian-Brazilian artist Viji with her highly-anticipated debut album So Vanilla out on tastemaker label Speedy Wunderground. Referencing the easy, sleazy sounds of the 90s, Viji – real name Vanilla Jenner – has been cementing herself as one of the most exciting alternative artists to watch in the UK right now. So Vanilla was recorded predominantly in London, in partnership with four-time Mercury Prize nominated producer and Speedy Wunderground label head, Dan Carey (Fontaines D.C., Kae Tempest, Wet Leg).
Having finished So Vanilla in November 2022, Viji relays that every song had a different writing process – some saw her and Carey playing guitar chords together for hours, until the sounds fused into one, and others came from late night ramblings at home. Born and raised in Vienna, Austria until the age of 16, she travelled first to the US and then to Brazil to stay with family. After Brazil, she moved to the UK to study music production in Brighton. Although she had written her first songs aged nine, and had carried on writing through her teens, she had never recorded them, and understanding the technicality of production techniques allowed her to grow as a writer and performer. “If you can be self-sufficient you can get stuff done way quicker. If you can make your own music, your own demos, you don’t need to rely on anyone. For writing it means you are not constrained to your voice and an instrument, it opens up a new spectrum of songwriting and creativity,” she explains. After finishing the course she moved to London and started to figure out her own sound. Her approach to shoe-gazey rock, raw instrumentals and vocal delivery makes her stand out as one of the most exciting UK artists to watch, pioneering what rock music can sound like in the modern era”.
I will finish off with this review of So Vanilla. I am predicting massive things for the London-based artist. Viji is a sensation that will soon be playing all around the world. Do ensure that she is in your thoughts. She caps off a wonderful and busy 2023:
“It’s common to get excited when you hear that an artist has been signed to in-demand record labels such as Dirty Hit and Speedy Wunderground, and Australian-Brazilian multi-instrumentalist Vanilla Jenner, known as Viji, has experienced both in the lead-up to the release of her debut album, So Vanilla. An album that has been completed for almost a year, So Vanilla begins to cement Viji’s status as one of the most exciting artists currently blending 90’s inspired shoegaze and bedroom pop.
Opener, ‘Anything’, indulges on the lust that is felt when you know that you are someone’s fantasy, with a forceful chorus. Previous single, ‘Down’, then begins with a soft introduction that builds up to an intense and cathartic climax. Here, Viji’s creative potential shines through, delivering a powerful performance and evoking emotions that are both raw and authentic. The line ‘misery makes me holy’ echoes throughout the track, leaving a lasting impression on the listener, where the grunge-inspired tones of Sonic Youth can also be heard, adding an edge to Viji’s sound.
‘Sedative’ sees Viji explore the complexities of attraction and rejection through reflective vocals. Here, the lyrics convey a sense of inner turmoil, as she grapples with her emotions towards someone, struggling to express them freely – as if in a self-imposed trap, unable to escape her own thoughts. However, as the song progresses, Viji’s vulnerability gives way to an admission of her true feelings – that ‘London isn’t as cool without you’.
So Vanilla features a unique blend of sound, with ‘Karaoke’ and ‘Sharks’ standing out as they pay their homage to Viji’s ‘emo’ roots. The former is a captivating slice of alt-pop that exudes angst and vocals that draw inspiration from shouty Japanese punk tracks. Despite the stark contrast in sound found on the album, So Vanilla manages to maintain a cohesive flow.
Taking inspiration from a wide range of artists and genres, Viji’s debut album is a hit. The bond between her and producer, Dan Carey, is palpable, and their collaboration truly brings So Vanilla to life and overall, the album is a strong debut that showcases Viji’s talent and sets the bar high for what’s to come”.
The Austrian-born Viji is a wonderful artist that is being heralded and featured on so many hugely reputable and popular websites, music magazines and radio stations. With a great footing in the U.K., there are tonnes of fans internationally that want to see Viji in the flesh! With that sort of demand, I know that next year will…
BE even busier.
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