Jesy Fortino felt much more secure when recording her sophomore record "Life on Earth."

The songs, while more abstract in their storytelling, reveal more personal details about the singer/ songwriter who performs under the name Tiny Vipers.

"I think it's definitely more mature. I think the content is more subtle. I think it's more like real," she said. "I feel like I hid behind recent trends that were going on at the time, and I hid behind the storytelling attitude. This one has more subtle feelings being expressed, but they're more truthful."

On her 2007 debut, "Hands Across the Void," she would decide what a song would be about before writing it. For example, "Shipwrecked" was about literally being marooned on an island. But for "Life on Earth," Fortino completely changed her approach to songwriting.

"I just don't write songs like that anymore," she said. "I don't know what the song is going to be about. It just happens and the lyrics are more abstract, but they're more meaningful. They just come from a more sincere part of me that I'm not afraid to put out there."

Her recording style also has changed from the first record to the second. At her first recording experience, she thought CDs were simply perfect versions of her songs, played exactly as she would do them in a live setting.

The pressure left her anxious and unable to enjoy the process at all. This time around, she just recorded whatever came out, including improvisations and other elements that can't be re-created, leaving the playful instrumentation and effects for her live shows.

"It's just me hanging out with the songs," she said of "Life on Earth."

Fortino is touring ahead of the release of her new record, which is due out next month. But don't expect to come away from her show with your ears ringing. She deliberately seeks out quiet venues in which to perform her melancholy, minor key tunes.

Most of the time, she succeeds and the audience quietly takes in her music. But occasionally, she said, the loud talkers get put in their place - by other audience members.

"I've had audience members get mad at other audience members," Fortino said. "It's funny because I'm not personally mad. They'll be like, 'Shut up or get out of here.' "

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