Taken By Trees - Another Year

by Zena Grieg

published: 20 / 2 / 2023

Label: Rough Trade
Format: LP

Striking mini-album and coves collection from Taken by Trees, the project of Swedish indie-pop singer-songwriter Victoria Bergsman, which reinterprets the songs of Zombies frontman Colin Blunstone on the fiftieth anniversary of his solo record ‘One Year’

Review

After a four-year hiatus the Swedish indie-pop singer-songwriter Victoria Bergsman aka Taken By Trees has brought out a mini-album of covers of Zombies frontman Colin Blunstone on the fiftieth anniversary of his solo record ‘One Year’. This is a personal tribute to the legendary musician “for being such an inspiration and for always pushing me to create something I believe is true and beautiful.” ‘Another Year’, co-produced with Freya Drakenberg, is a solo project containing striking renditions of Blunstone’s songs set against delicate chamber orchestra arrangements. The collection comprises five interpretations: the opener, the atmospheric, emotive ‘Time’s Running Out’, resonating to Esther Lennstrand’s vibraphone; the haunting ‘Say You Don’t Mind’; the slow-burning, enthralling ‘I Don’t Believe In Miracles’ with its melancholic timbre; a restrained, layered rendition of ‘Caroline Goodbye’, a song Blunstonhttps://pennyblackmusic.co.uk/MagAdminReviewe wrote on the breakup with his girlfriend, the ‘Bond Girl’ and model Caroline Munro; and the final track the muted ‘She Loves The Way They Love Her’, with its jazzy, plaintive saxophone. . Blunstone expressed his appreciation at hearing his songs “brought back to life” with “such a melancholy and contemporary edge.” Sonically, this short, romantic mini album gives a tantalizing foretaste of Bergsman’s forthcoming new work.