Other Worlds

Taken By Trees’ Other Worlds is a impressionist poem for the Hawaiian Islands, where on a recent visit, chanteuse Victoria Bergsman found a swell of creative inspiration.

Working closely with photographer Amanda Marsalis, Victoria intimately documented her time in Hawaii. “I gathered ideas for songs, recorded nature sounds and Amanda filmed and took photos of me constantly. Her work is very dear to me and both of us believed this [project] to be something special and very precious.”

The album’s dub ventures are gently layered with synths and Victoria’s voice, floating along with the bass line. The music reflects the natural beauty of the Hawaiian islands — floating in a perfectly blue pond, a kind breeze coasting off the waves, abundant deep green foliage, sweet slices of pineapple and milky coconut, the delicate pink of a seashell curled like a baby’s ear. Sandy toes, hidden waterfalls, the dreams you have after a long day at the beach.

Producer Henning Fürst collaborated with Bergsman on the sound and overall feel of the album.

“I remember two songs that really triggered the whole ‘Hawaiian/tropical’ album idea and kept hanging on through out the whole process of the album as sound and feel atmosphere. The first song was the instrumental track “Diamond Head” by The Beach Boys and the other one is Augustos Pablo’s song “AP Spezial,” also an instrumental track. Both of the songs have beautiful nature sounds added to them of waves, thunder and birds. The Beach Boys song turned me onto pedal steels and the Augustos Pablo song turned me onto the more dubby feeling you can hear in my album.”

“I am hoping it can take you on a little trip, somewhere luscious and warm,” she adds. “Lay back and enjoy.”