Taken by Trees is the solo project of Victoria Bergsman, former lead singer of The Concretes. Taken by Trees’ debut record, Open Fields, demonstrated Bergsman’s blend of whimsical music— soft acoustics and sparse drums mixed with her always up front and enchanting vocals. A couple of the tracks from Open Fields illustrated Bergsman’s love of Asian music (“Open Fields” and “Cedar Tree”) and bittersweet lyrics of loss and isolation.
East of Eden, Taken By Trees second full-length album, continues these themes and seamlessly weaves together a record that is more complex and mature than Open Fields yet just as beautiful.
Victoria Bergsman, Andreas Superstore and an engineer traveled to Pakistan to record East of Eden. The album uses local Sufi musicians and the result is an interesting blend of Bergstrom’s pop sensibilities and traditional Pakistani music. “Day by Day” is the best example of this cohesion, with Bergsman singing, “I could hold you for a hundred years,” while the percussion and flute make head bopping and finger tapping irresistible.
In a video which covers the recording process in Pakistan, Bergman lets on that she suffered a bit of culture shock and wrestled not only with the treatment of women but also with signs of poverty and even seeing death (in the form of animals and people). The songs “To Lose Someone,” “Tidens Gang” and “Bekannelse” (which is Swedish for confession) capture the depth and complexity of her visit; meanwhile, “Wapas Karna” seems to encapsulate the human spirit of survival and celebration. Taken By Trees even play it coy by covering Animal Collective’s “My Girls,” aptly retitled, “My Boys.”
Overall, East of Eden is a staggering album filled with equal doses ingenuity and confidence. There are songs to cry to, songs to sing along with, and songs to dance to—often all three elements within the same song; and really, what else could you possibly want in a record?
more from this author
- Asobi Seksu at Joe's Pub - Public Theater, New York, NY, September 16, 2009 - September 18th, 2009
- Yo La Tengo - 'Popular Songs' - August 25th, 2009
