Album Review: Taken by Trees – East Of Eden

Title: East Of Eden
Artist: Taken by Trees
Label: Rough Trade
Released: September 2009
In one word: Innate

Taken By Trees is a solo project by Sweden’s Victoria Bergsman, the former lead singer of the Concretes, but it’s more likely you know her best as the girl in Peter Bjorn and John’s whistling-heavy song “Young Folks“, one of 2006′s biggest hits.

As a Westerner it would be easy for me to describe this album using the word ‘zen’ to serve as a pointer towards the meditative aura of this record, but this album has its roots and influences drawn from Islamim not Buddism. Taken By Trees headed East to Pakistan for inspiration for this record and the results are stunning, with a kaleidoscope of sounds being provided by Sufi musicians. Sitar, drums and flutes are among the instruments featured.

One of the most beautiful tracks on this album is “Anna”, which features some mesmerizing singing from Bergsman. Meanwhile the final track “Bekannelse” is a tranquil send-off. Bergman’s vocal is as sultry as it is organic, and the occasional flaw in her voice or subtle nuances only add to the innate charm of it all.

This album is the very definition of easy listening. One of the finest records of 2009.

© Brian Banks

Tags: East Of Eden, Taken By Trees

This entry was posted on September 12, 2009 at 10:47 pm and is filed under Album Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.