East of Eden's back-story is the stuff of movies. Following the release of Taken by Trees' 2007 debut, Open Field, Victoria Bergsman and her trusty recording engineer, Andreas Söderström, traveled to Pakistan to record TBT's second album. They had to battle for a travel visa; the Swedish government warned them that travel to Pakistan was dangerous. Which it was -- Bergsman was literally carried off by some locals shortly after the duo arrived in Pakistan; the fact that she was an unmarried woman evidently made her public property. Söderström saved her by posing as her husband, and thus disguised, Söderström and Bergsman went on to team up with an influential musician named Malik to record this album. It's probably the last thing indie pop fans would expect from Bergsman, who's best known for her sugary work with the Concretes and Peter Bjorn and John, and, oddly enough, East of Eden is probably stronger simply because it's such a wild tangent. Like Open Field, East of Eden is a richly atmospheric album -- the main difference is in temperature. Compared to TBT's chilly first album, East of Eden provides a warm, vibrant listen; lush with rounded, organic Pakistani-influenced sounds, this is perhaps the happiest-sounding sustained work Bergsman has produced since her departure from the Concretes. It also sounds a whole lot like Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion, an influence that Bergsman is not at all shy about. Noah Lennox makes an appearance on one of the album's standout tracks, the pleasantly loopy "Anna," and there's even a minimalist, half-grinning cover of Animal Collective's "My Girls" (appearing here as "My Boys"). East of Eden shouldn't be chalked up as a kind of mini-Merriweather, though. Even though she's borrowed a lot here -- from Animal Collective, from Pakistani music -- Bergsman manages to give it all a tender, sad-yet-sprightly touch that's completely her own.
Stockholm's Taken By Trees is the name of Victoria Bergsman's latest solo project, who for eleven years (until 2006) was lead singer of The Concretes. You may recognize The Concretes' song "Say Something New" from the Target commercial. Or maybe not, I don't know how much TV you watch.Before creating Taken By Trees, she collaborated with Peter, Bjorn and John on their infectious, whistle heav...
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You may recognize the vocals on this track, as Taken by Trees's sole member is Victoria Bergsman, the female vocalist on the Peter Bjorn and John hit "Young Folks" and former lead singer of The Concretes. Being a one-woman group with a psuedonym, a la St. Vincent, Taken by Trees opens Bergsman up to a casual- and earthy-feeling (hence the name) world music approach and this Animal Collective co...
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What really works on 'East Of Eden' is the warmth it exudes, the field recordings of street noise or people talking in the street are done in such a way as to draw you in and soothe.
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You are probably familiar with Victoria Bergsman's work by now. As the lead singer of Swedish twee pop group The Concretes her music was an underground treasure. As the female voice on Peter Bjorn and John's smash "Young Folks" she became a household voice (even if you didn't know her name).The Bjorn Yttling-produced (boy that dude's busy) East Of Eden is Bergsman's second album released under
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Open Fields, the 2007 debut by former Concretes singer Victoria Bergsman under the name Taken By Trees, was a pleasing enough indie-folk album. Its largely acoustic guitar and orchestral sound did a good job of showcasing the Swedish singer's distinctive fey vocals, but it did lack that magic ingredient truly great albums need. Bergsman recognised this and....more here.
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Ex-Concrete Victoria Bergsman heads to Pakistan to seek inspiration for her second album as Taken By Trees.
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2009 has been a fantastic year for music. While you all know that, I’ve noticed a rather interesting trend on top of that. Many of the artists that have released or are going to release albums this year have topped their previous works, taking their band to an entirely new level. Grizzly Bear, Dirty Projectors, [...]
More >
Victoria Bergsman, former Concrete lead singer, has followed up her debut album “Open Field” with a slightly less familiar sound. An album borrowing heavily from other cultural backrounds, East of Eden is strongly influenced by traditional Spanish guitar through most of the disc, but marinates in middle eastern and Swedish waters as well. The cut Tidens Gang showcases her native tongue, and co
More >
You are probably familiar with Victoria Bergsman's work by now. As the lead singer of Swedish twee pop group The Concretes her music was an underground treasure. As the female voice on Peter Bjorn and John's smash "Young Folks" she became a household voice (even if you didn't know her name).The Bjorn Yttling-produced (boy that dude's busy) East Of Eden is Bergsman's second album released under
More >
You may recognize the vocals on this track, as Taken by Trees's sole member is Victoria Bergsman, the female vocalist on the Peter Bjorn and John hit "Young Folks" and former lead singer of The Concretes. Being a one-woman group with a psuedonym, a la St. Vincent, Taken by Trees opens Bergsman up to a casual- and earthy-feeling (hence the name) world music approach and this Animal Collective co...
More >
Open Fields, the 2007 debut by former Concretes singer Victoria Bergsman under the name Taken By Trees, was a pleasing enough indie-folk album. Its largely acoustic guitar and orchestral sound did a good job of showcasing the Swedish singer's distinctive fey vocals, but it did lack that magic ingredient truly great albums need. Bergsman recognised this and....more here.
More >
Ex-Concrete Victoria Bergsman heads to Pakistan to seek inspiration for her second album as Taken By Trees.
More >
As we quickly approach the end of 2009 we're already starting to look back at some of the great albums we've heard this year. But before we get into 'best of' mode just yet there are still a few releases that we are still looking forward to. One of those releases is the new album from Victoria Bergsman aka Taken By Trees. We posted the first mp3 from the new album, "Watch The Waves", a few w...
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What really works on 'East Of Eden' is the warmth it exudes, the field recordings of street noise or people talking in the street are done in such a way as to draw you in and soothe.
More >
You know how much people are loving Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion this year? Enough that we are about to see a cover of song, from an album that came out this year...on another album coming out, THIS YEAR. When does that happen? If you’re a My Girls fan though, you’ll be pleased to find out that Taken By Trees (Victoria Bergsman) has put out a cover called My Boys. It’s
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Stockholm's Taken By Trees is the name of Victoria Bergsman's latest solo project, who for eleven years (until 2006) was lead singer of The Concretes. You may recognize The Concretes' song "Say Something New" from the Target commercial. Or maybe not, I don't know how much TV you watch.Before creating Taken By Trees, she collaborated with Peter, Bjorn and John on their infectious, whistle heav...
More >
Victoria Bergsman, former Concrete lead singer, has followed up her debut album “Open Field” with a slightly less familiar sound. An album borrowing heavily from other cultural backrounds, East of Eden is strongly influenced by traditional Spanish guitar through most of the disc, but marinates in middle eastern and Swedish waters as well. The cut Tidens Gang showcases her native tongue, and co
More >
Taken by Trees quiet and beautiful East of Eden comes out next week, but you can stream the whole thing over at NPR now. Check it out.mp3:Taken by Trees - Sweetnessmp3:Taken By Trees - Watch the Waves (Memory Tapes Version)
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2009 has been a fantastic year for music. While you all know that, I’ve noticed a rather interesting trend on top of that. Many of the artists that have released or are going to release albums this year have topped their previous works, taking their band to an entirely new level. Grizzly Bear, Dirty Projectors, [...]
More >
Here is the video for "My Boys" which comes off of Taken By Trees latest album East of Eden. The song, which is a cover of Animal Collective's "My Girls", is definitely one of my favorite tracks off of the new album, which I really like a lot. You can pick up East of Eden now from Rough Trade.
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A Swede with penchants for raga and accordions can do no wrong in the world of music. Victoria Bergsman (The Concretes) winds her wispy voice around tribal drums, woodwinds, xylophones, and chimes gracefully with supreme command of her craft. East of Eden is dreamy and exotic without being oppressively eccentric. Reminds us of: The Sundays | Camera Obscura | El Perro Del MarTaken By Trees: (O...
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It’s still early days for East of Eden, but the new album from Taken By Trees looks set to follow its 2007 predecessor unto QBiM’s year-end favourite albums list. She may be best known as the female voice of Peter Bjorn & John’s “Young Folks” but Victoria Bergsman is quickly establishing herself as one of [...]
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I know we don't really do all that much indie, but I assure that here at Penned Madness we are pretty big supporters of all things Indie. For today's little adventure into Indie/Pop/Psychedelic-Fun-Times we we'll be discussing the band Taken By Trees from Sweden. Taken By Trees is the amazingly explorative solo project of Victoria Bergsman (photographed above) of The Concretes. I've been follow...
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| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
|---|---|---|
| 1 To Lose Someone |
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| 2 Anna |
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| 3 Watch the Waves |
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| 4 Greyest Love of All |
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| 5 Tidens Gĺng |
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| 6 Wapas Karna |
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| 7 My Boys |
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| 8 Day by Day |
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| 9 Bekännelse |
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| 10 [CD-ROM Track] |
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Click to purchase…
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 "East of Eden")
