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 decided that for her second album she would take radical action. Tapping into her fascination with the music and rhythms of the Indian sub-continent and Asia she set about the unlikely task of incorporating this into the simple folk style of Open Fields.
Anxious not to appear gimmicky or churn out the familiar sitar sounds of India, she opted for Pakistan, where she and her recording partner Andreas Söderström travelled, armed with some new demos, a bunch of mics and a computer.
The finished album East of Eden could well feature in many top ten lists by the end of the year such is its success in combining the tablas and pipes of Pakistan with Bergsman’s seductively sweet vocals and simple melodies.
As well as around 20 local musicians she also enlisted support from Noah Lennox, otherwise known as Panda Bear of Animal Collective. He features on the track ‘Anna’ and the album also has a cover version of Animal Collective’s ‘My Girls’, which has been renamed ‘My Boys’ after her boyfriend and cat.
‘My Boys’ is one of a number of standout tracks on an album of startling consistency and uniqueness. ‘Watch The Waves’ is perhaps the best on the album, with acoustic guitar and Bergsman’s vocals moulding perfectly with Pakistan’s traditional instruments.
Other highlights include ‘Anna’, complete with its chanting children in the intro, and the beautiful ‘Greyest Love Of All’.
East of Eden is undoubtedly a risky premise for an album, but Bergsman and Söderström’s enthusiasm for the music of Pakistan has shone through, ensuring this is no mere world music oddity.
At the very least the concept of a Swedish indie-folk singer travelling to Pakistan and using local musicians to record an album that includes a cover of an Animal Collective track, is unlikely to be bettered this year.
8/10
by Joe Lepper, Sept 2009
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