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Jun 30, 2009 Taken By Trees By Mark Redfern Photography by Wendy Lynch Redfern

Victoria Bergsman is set to release her second album as Taken By Trees. Entitled East of Eden, the follow-up to 2007’s Open Field is set for release on September 8th via Rough Trade. The former Concretes singer and Peter Bjorn and John collaborator (“Young Folks”) recorded her new album in Pakistan with the help of local musicians. The album will come with a short film chronicling the experience of recording in Pakistan.

A press release announcing the album states that Bergsman had “wanted to travel to record in a mysterious, relatively uncharted area, and avoid the usual clinical studio experience, which she has always disliked and found to be an essentially uncreative environment.” Apparently, Pakistani music (in particular singers Abida Parveen and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan) has long captivated Bergsman, which compelled her to record in the country.

The press release adds: “While it’s practically a miracle that the album was made at all, the experience and environment there has created a masterful work with a depth of expression and feeling that is breathtaking. Victoria is one of the very few, if not the only, Western women, to record in this region, and the bureaucracy, cultural differences and prejudices she had to overcome to see this project through are beyond belief.”

Open Field was a fairly hushed and delicate affair, so it will be interesting to see how the rhythms of Pakistani music have influenced Bergsman on East of Eden.

In a recent open letter to her fans on the Taken By Trees website, Bergsman wrote: “I just wanted to let you know that I have created something special for you. I was not sure if all those thoughts, ideas and dreams I had in my head could actually turn into something real, something for you to have and hold. Luckily my doubts proved me wrong and in my hands lay a completed album.”

East of Eden‘s track listing is as follows:

1. To Lose Someone
2. Anna
3. Watch the Waves
4. Greyest Love of All
5. Tidens Gång
6. Wapas Karna
7. My Boys
8. Day By Day
9. Bekännelse

www.takenbytrees.com