The Post-Rockist

Taken By Trees - Lost and Found
(from Open Field, single version)

Sometimes the simplest sentiments can leave the deepest impressions. “I don’t want to settle down; I don’t want to leave this town,” Victoria Bergsman sings, her gentle warble capturing the delicate balance between yearning and melancholy, between the wish to be spirited away to someplace new and the fear of the unfamiliar, between feeling—in Bergsman’s* simpler terms—lost and found. Sung in these terms, each phrase cradled in the trembling sustain of a vibraphone, her appeal is almost childish, which is to say it brings back painful memories of being younger and having to buck up to the unfair decisions growing up presents. Nothing’s sadder than feeling lovesick and out of place, it seems, and yet nothing’s more inevitable for an introspective, overly-sensitive adolescent. It may sound silly, but here on this song the phrasing is elegant and innocent, free of clutter. This is music for headphone insomniacs; a soundtrack for solitary strolls at dusk. This is Nico if she had a knack for melody. This is Burt Bacharach at a crossroads.

Taken By Trees, the new solo project of the former Concretes frontwoman, comes at a time when Victoria Bergsman is a little lost and found herself. When, after spending 11 years building up a strong indie foundation with her old band, her entire previous career is nearly eclipsed by a guest spot on last year’s Peter Bjorn and John record. Fellow Swedes Björn Yttling and John Eriksson do appear on Open Field, her beautiful and understated debut, handling production and percussion, respectively, while Electrelane’s Verity Susman offers her hands on the ivory, but it’s Bergsman’s sleepy and sorrowful vocals that pull you in and make you listen closer. Musically speaking, Taken By Trees is a sparse forest, but one you could easily get lost in.

*Actually, the original author of this tune is Tracyanne Campbell of Camera Obscura. Hence, the similarities in style you will no doubt notice.

-Posted by Todd