TAKEN BY TREES @ Cabaret Juste Pour Rire

By Mike Bresciani - The Lonesome Strangers - 02/25/2008

Seems as though the indie music community is filled with confusing side projects, revolving-door musicians, and solo projects that may or may not be worth the price of admission. There’s usually a lot of excitement and intrigue that follows the new directions many of these artists seem to be taking. In this case, we have Victoria Bergsman pursuing her solo ambitions with Taken By Trees after having fronted the excellent Swedish pop group, The Concretes, for the last decade.

One could not have picked a better setting to preview the new songs, as the Cabaret audience was small and attentive. There may have only been thirty people or so in the venue, but still, it just added to the level of intimacy needed to enjoy such an offering.

Taken By Tree’s first and only album, Open Field, was released in June 2007, and is not overwhelmingly different from past recordings with Bergsman’s ex-bandmates. The main discrepancy here would be that The Concretes had a rather varied arsenal of hook-filled pop songs (as well as an eight-piece band of musicians). The new recordings rely solely on Bergsmans’ ethereal vocals, and her melancholy storytelling while the instrumentation is hidden somewhere beneath it all.

Sounds like a tough sell, right ? It ain’t so…

Throw away the comparisons, and you still have ten gorgeous songs of yearning and pure beauty, all of which were played in their hour-long set. The amount of onstage musicians may have been cut in half, still, most of the band performed double duty on guitars, piano, xylophone, and mandolin. In addition, the b-side, "Above You," featured the first ever double recorder performance (two flutes, one mouth) this man’s witnessed since the third grade.

"You’re not many, but you’re important" Bergsman told us in her shy, accented manner. The relatively small turnout gave the audience a chance to take in the show, seated two-by-two, by candlelight -- something that happens very rarely at the Cabaret. Picking a highlight from the show would prove to be difficult, since nearly every song had a painful heart-on-sleeve sentiment I found memorable. Speaking of which, would you believe one of the more upbeat songs, “Lost and Found,” contained the following lyrics:

Can’t you see I’m lovesick?
I need a cure so bring it real quick.
This time I’m fearing heartbreak…

The song, “Only Yesterday,” may have been the most captivating moment of the night, as it was a short ode to loneliness with what sounded like raindrops and acoustic guitar being plucked underneath Bergsman’s lush vocals. The show ended off with a serene, upbeat version of "Sweet Child O’Mine" which was well-suited as a "last dance" kind of song, as opposed to hearing it full-blast, with grizzled bar room regulars and intoxicated college girls singing along.

T.B.T was a wonderful, somewhat unexpected surprise, both live and on CD. For one, I’ve always kept my hopes up when my favorite artist releases music with a new band, or solo moniker, only to be utterly disappointed by terrible offerings from the likes of say, Jeremy Enigk, Jarvis Cocker, and just recently, Chris Walla. My level of awe for this album rivals that of Amy Millan’s first (any only) solo album. It does not surpass it, however, it’s up there.

50 something days into 2008, the most memorable show…so far.

Tune in to The Lonesome Strangers with Mikey B every Wednesday from 3pm – 5pm