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Bergsman could have capitalised on the enormous success of that song, but she’s instead pursued a quieter route under her Taken by Trees moniker. Open Season, her 2007 debut, was a shimmering collection of dreamy, folk-inflected pop songs that stuck close to the terrain she explored in her previous band. While lacking in daring composing, she more than made up for it with her subdued yet spellbinding delivery.
The record was an artistic, if not entirely commercial, success, but perhaps sensing it was time to boldly leap into the unknown, Bergsman’s changed tack with its follow-up, East of Eden.
Taking a page from The Beatles, Sting and every other pop musician who’s searched for fresh inspiration while standing at a career crossroad, Bergsman headed east – or, more specifically, to Pakistan, to record her new album. It’s a brave move for someone associated with the normally risk-averse world of indie-pop. But even with the bulk of the album’s support coming from local Pakistani musicians, there’s a prevailing wistfulness here that’ll be familiar to fans of Bergsman’s previous work.
Yet while To Lose Someone and Greyest Love of All again find the Swedish chanteuse offering humble reflections on love and friendship, Bergsman’s words and vocals weave their way into the sounds of her Lahore-based backing band in a beguiling manner that only unfolds with repeat listens. Elsewhere, she covers Animal Collective’s My Girls and rechristens it My Boys (AC’s Noah Lennox also contributes backing vocals to Anna), before closing with a musical reading of Hermann Hesse’s Bekännelse.
The shock of the new may be absent from Bergsman’s musical globetrotting, but East of Eden captivates by revealing its author to be an explorer who’s not afraid to blaze her own gentle trail. Best to file this one under adventurous with a small ‘a’. --Charles Ubaghs
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Customer Reviews
some form of subtle personal transformation.
Swedish singer/song writer Victoria Bergsman's (aka Taken By Trees)
travels to Pakistan have clearly left a deeply embedded watermark in
both her spirit and creative vision.
'East Of Eden' is a fairly brief but delightful musical journey.
The nine songs in this collection float like feathers borne
on a mountain breeze. Ephemeral, luminous and enchanting.
Ms Bergsman has a lovely voice made lovlier still by the space
it is given in these economical arrangements to work its magic.
Simple songs beautifully sung.
'Anna' and 'Watch The Waves' are both captivating examples of the
principle that less can sometimes and in so many ways be more.
Take 'Greyest Love Of All', too, with its charming folk-like melody,
lilting harmonies and mercurial solo flute.
This is music which doesn't have to shout to make its mark.
The complex percussion of 'Day By Day' creates an infectiously
spare and funky backdrop to the almost childlike vocal performance.
Concluding track 'Bekannelse' is an eerie dirge-like
composition whose disembodied and ambiguous sound-effects
create a truly haunting (and haunted) ending.
This impeccable album is a complete joy from start to finish.
Highly Recommended.
The opening track rolls and claps along as Bergsman almost talks over the top and gradually the layers build up to great effect. The chanting at the start of `Anna' gives way to an ethereal track filled with calm retrospect, and `Watching the Waves' whistles and pops with such joy that counterpoints the slight regret of the lyrics.
The unique thing about Victoria is her ability to balance different styles perfectly, and nowhere is this better shown than in the succession from `Tidens Gång', which is entirely sung in Swedish, to `Wapas Karna', which is entirely chanted in Urdu, and then on to the very bubbly `My Boys'. It is a talent that very few people have.
The album eventually closes out with `Bekännelse' which is the densist track on the album, it hums and flows like the tide with Bergsman's voice whispering out of the air. Whatever inspiration Victoria needed in Pakistan she found it and used it to great success.
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