SONG PREMIERE: Fernando Viciconte Shares His Personal Immigrant Story With Punchy Rocker “I Don’t Know”

Argentina-born rocker Fernando Vicoconte came of age in L.A., and moved to Portland in 1994 where he released 5 albums between 1994 and 2001, while building a rabid audience who hung on his every word. It was 2006’s Enter to Exit, however, that put Fernando on the musical map, so to speak, with glowing reviews from the likes of Billboard, Paste, Amplifier, No Depression, and MSNBC.com. Magnet Magazine went as far as naming Fernando one of the best new artists of 2006.

But as the media was fawning over Enter To Exit and he was building an International audience, Fernando Viciconte was beginning to experience problems with his greatest gift. There were periods where it was difficult for him to sing, and at times his voice would just disappear completely. Performing and touring became difficult, and he soon stopped playing altogether. After years of frustration and countless visits to doctors and hospitals, he was finally found to an undiagnosed hiatal hernia, which had essentially been bathing his larynx and vocal cords in acid for the better part of a decade. The good news was that a successful surgery would mean that his voice would soon recover.

All of that leads us to the upcoming album, Traitors Table (due out June 21st on Fluff & Gravy Records), which is easily Viciconte’s most personal and provocative record yet. Traitors Table tells a multi-faceted tale of an unspeakable, palpable shadow that rests laden across our souls and heavy on our hearts. At its core, the record serves as a warning about a wobbly, uncertain future.

Today Glide is excited to premiere “I Don’t Know”, an autobiographical tune that finds Fernando recounting his coming to the U.S. as an immigrant child and how—after growing up identifying as a proud American—he felt the acute, nauseating fear of being sent back to a country he never really knew. The song speaks directly to our current crisis at the border and the hatred and bigotry that is constantly spewing from the White House. Fernando gives the song a sort of New Wave meets power pop sound with a punchy beat and infectious lyrics. The song is different than much of his other work, steering away from his more Americana and alt-country material. It also features a zingy guitar solo in the bridge that keeps the song spacey as Fernando fast forwards from childhood to adulthood and our modern times of ICE banging on the doors of respectable people.

Fernando describes the story behind how the song came to fruition:

“Our first single ‘I Don’t Know’ is the most personal song on the record for me because it’s about my immigrant story. My parents brought me to this country from Argentina when I was 2 years old and we remained undocumented for 12 years, so I constantly lived in fear of being deported. Like the DACA kids of today, as a young person, I mostly identified myself as an American and consequently, one of my biggest fears was being sent back to a country that I really didn’t know. This song is about being a permanent exile, feeling like an outsider and not knowing who you truly are. I am not not an American and I will never feel like a real Argentinean.”

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