After logging 11 years as the singer and chief songwriter of indie-pop group The Concretes, Swedish musician Victoria Bergsman (born May 4, 1977) left the band in July 2006 and quickly launched a folk-inspired solo project called Taken by Trees. Her debut album, Open Field, was released in 2007, featuring co-production and string arrangements from Björn Yttling. The two had previously worked together on Peter Bjorn and John's "Young Folks," a platinum-selling single that featured Victoria Bergsman's vocals and cracked the Top 40 in 10 different countries during 2006. Open Field was followed in 2009 by Taken by Trees' second release, East of Eden, which was recorded in Pakistan and featured Middle Eastern influences. The album reached Number 43 on Sweden's Sverigetopplistan chart. Later that year, Taken by Trees' cover of the Guns N' Roses song "Sweet Child O' Mine" appeared in a British television commercial and became a surprise hit, climbing to Number 23 in the UK. Victoria Bergsman drew upon her travels to Hawaii for the tropical-sounding Other Worlds, which was released in 2012 by her new label, Secretly Canadian. Following a brief hiatus, she returned in 2018 with Yellow to Blue, whose modern pop songs found her working with co-producer Jesse Shatkin and Haim collaborator Ariel Rechtshaid.
