Taken away

Victoria Bergsman spent most of her life in Stockholm. From 1995 to 2006, she was lead vocalist for indie pop band the Concretes. During downtime from the band, the quiet, contemplative Swede took rejuvenating sojourns around Europe. The travel bug only grew stronger. After leaving the Concretes to pursue a solo career, the elfin chanteuse recorded vocals on Peter Bjorn and John’s hit single “Young Folks” and collaborated with the band on her delightful, mellow 2007 debut, Open Field, under the moniker Taken by Trees. But it was soon time for a new adventure.

Fascinated by qawwali, a form of devotional Sufi music, Bergsman set her sights on South Asia on a whim. “Musicians there play until they fall into a trance,” she says. It’s easy to see why this would appeal to the reserved and analytical 32-year-old, who speaks quietly in terse, well-considered phrases and prefers the comfort of being interviewed via e-mail. “Pakistan seemed more mysterious and unexplored than India, so I went for Pakistan.” After months of bureaucratic paperwork, Bergsman jetted with her friend and producer Andreas Söderström to the Punjab capital, Lahore, where, for 12 days, the duo recorded with local musicians. The result is East of Eden, a beautiful, natural-sounding synthesis of Bergsman’s dazzling, gentle pop and the distinctive stamp of Pakistani rhythm, drums and flutes.

“My first strong reaction was towards how chaotic it felt,” Bergsman says of her time in Lahore. “There is so much noise and people everywhere. There was never a calm moment.” Which seems antithetical to the Scandinavian’s serene, meditative personality and new sound. Bergsman faced another challenge: “I didn’t think I would react so strongly towards how women were treated,” she says. “It really put me off and made me sad. They are not a part of society, usually in the shadows of their husbands. It made me so frustrated.” Yet Bergsman says she fell in love with Pakistani food, hospitality and the countryside.

Bergsman heard about a hostel, the Regale Internet Inn, near the 17th-century Badshahi Mosque in the Mughal-era walled city. On Saturday evenings, Sufi musicians flock to the inn for popular jam sessions, serenading the backpackers lounging on a rooftop terrace. After Bergsman contacted the owners, they set up a recording with local artists, including Sufi star Sain Muhammad Ali. Frequent power cuts impeded the taping, with the electricity cutting out one of every three hours. “Almost none of the musicians spoke English, and I don’t speak Urdu or Punjabi,” Bergsman says. “I had to gesticulate and sing to them how I wanted someone to play.”

Despite a new album to promote, Bergsman hasn’t found it easy getting back on the road. Given the economic climate, her label, Rough Trade, isn’t fronting road expenses. She’s worked out a jaunt with fellow Swede Sarah Assbring of El Perro Del Mar; the two old friends share a backing band of Swedish and American musicians. “We musicians are much more creative since the economic collapse,” Bergsman reflects. “We need to find new ways of promoting and even recording music. But it’s hard work.”

In January, Bergsman left her hometown for pricey NYC on a working visa, settling into a tiny pad in Little Italy. “I needed to break away from Stockholm and try to have a home somewhere else,” she explains. “When you live too long in the same place, you easily get stuck in the same routines. Routines narrow your mind and stop you from trying new things.” Still high from her latest adventure, she adds, “This city is more alive.” Yet, fittingly, the inquisitive songstress expresses her homesickness with idiosyncratic detail: “I do miss how well built and looked-after everything is in Sweden. I haven’t felt one doorknob sitting firmly in place since I’ve been here.”

Taken by Trees breezes into Lincoln Hall with El Perro Del Mar Monday 22.

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