Agnes Obel

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Agnes Obel (2010)
Agnes Obel (2010)
Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
Philharmonics
  DK 1 
Six-fold platinum
× 6
Six-fold platinum
10/15/2010 (101 weeks)
  CH 58 03/10/2010 (7 weeks)
Aventine
  DK 1Template: Infobox chart placements / maintenance / NR1 link 
platinum
platinum
10/11/2013 (23 weeks)
  DE 24 10/11/2013 (6 weeks)
  AT 31 10/11/2013 (4 weeks)
  CH 9 13/10/2013 (19 weeks)
  UK 63 10/12/2013 (1 week)
Citizen of Glass
  DK 3 04/11/2016 (4 weeks)
  DE 32 10/28/2016 (2 weeks)
  AT 54 04/11/2016 (1 week)
  CH 9 10/30/2016 (6 weeks)
  UK 30th 10/28/2016 (1 week)
Myopia
  DK 11 02/28/2020 (1 week)
  DE 9 02/28/2020 (3 weeks)
  AT 19th 03/06/2020 (2 weeks)
  CH 5 01.03.2020 (6 weeks)
  UK 34 05.03.2020 (1 week)
Singles
Just like that
  DE 44 03/06/2009 (9 weeks)
Riverside
  DK 2 
platinum
platinum
11/26/2010 (29 weeks)
  CH 58 08/22/2010 (2 weeks)

Agnes Caroline Thaarup Obel (born October 28, 1980 in Gentofte , Copenhagen ) is a Danish singer, songwriter and musician. Her first album Philharmonics was released on October 4, 2010 by PIAS Recordings and was awarded gold by the Belgian Entertainment Association (BEA) in June 2011 after 10,000 copies were sold . At the Danish Music Awards in November 2011, five prizes went to Agnes Obel, among others in the categories Best Album and Best Newcomer. In 2016 she received the IMPALA Album of the Year Award for her third album Citizen of Glass . The song "Riverside" was used in the Spike TV series Der Nebel ( The Mist ) (season 1, episode 2: "Withdrawal") and in the Netflix series The Rain. The series Grey's Anatomy , Ringer , the British sitcom Lovesick and the Australian comedy drama Offspring did the same. In addition, her piece "Familiar" became the title track of the Canadian TV series Cardinal and, together with the song "It's Happening Again", part of the German series Dark .

life and career

Early years

Agnes Obel grew up in unusual surroundings with her younger brother Holger. Her father had three children from a previous marriage and loved collecting strange things and instruments. Her mother Katja Obel was a lawyer and musician. She liked to play Bartók and Chopin on the piano. Agnes Obel also found her way to the piano at a young age. She says of the learning process: “I had a classical piano teacher who told me not to play what I don't like either. So I just played what I liked. I was never forced to play anything else. "

During her childhood she discovered the work of Jan Johansson and was inspired by him. Johansson's songs, European folk tunes in a jazzy garb, had a strong influence on the young musician.

In 1990 she joined a small band as a singer and bassist, with whom she played at a festival and recorded some pieces.

In 1994 she got a small supporting role in the short film The Boy Who Walked Backwards / Drengen der gik baglæns by Thomas Vinterberg . Her brother Holger Thaarup played the leading role in this production. Performed as Agnes Obel, she can be seen in two scenes. She plays a student who shares her table with the new student Andreas (Holger Thaarup).

Agnes Obel attended "Det frie Gymnasium", a free school where she could make a lot of music. Nevertheless, she soon dropped out of school: »When I was seventeen […] I met a man who ran his own studio. I quickly gave up my music lessons to learn sound technology. "

Private life

Agnes Obel has lived in Berlin with Alex Brüel Flagstad since 2006 . As a photo and video artist, Flagstad shot the music film for "Riverside" from Obel's debut album Philharmonics (2010). Flagstad has also produced other videos for her LP Aventine (2013), including "Dorian", "The Curse" and "Aventine".

Philharmonics

Agnes Obel made her debut as a solo singer with her first album Philharmonics (2010). She writes, plays, sings and produces all of her material herself. »I have never been interested in orchestral or symphonic music. I've always been drawn to simple, almost childish melodies. […] Before I start to write lyrics, I let a lot of time pass because the music already seems to tell a story, to project images. «Your piano is truly more than just an instrument - Obel says,» the piano and Singing are two things to me - maybe not inseparable, but very strongly connected. You can say that they are like two equal voices. "For them," music is the most obvious means of expressing what I am, where I am ".

All Philharmonics songs were composed by Agnes Obel, with the exception of “Close Watch” (“I Keep A Close Watch” by John Cale ) and “Katie Cruel” (a folk traditional; iTunes bonus track on the album). On Live à Paris, published April 11, 2011 on iTunes, she sings a cover of Elliott Smith's "Between The Bars". There is also a duet that Agnes Obel sings with Tom Smith , the editor's singer : Mel Tormé's “The Christmas Song” can be found on Smith & Burrows' album Funny Looking Angels (in stores since November 2011).

The advertising photo for Philharmonics shows Agnes Obel (through Mali Lazell's lens) next to an imposing and terrifying owl - clearly a reference to Alfred Hitchcock's classic The Birds . However, there is no owl in Hitchcock's film, so that many people feel as though they have been transported into the world of Ingmar Bergman . "Agnes, really beautiful, looks a lot more like Liv Ullmann in Ingmar Bergman's Persona or Tippi Hedren disguised as a proud Marnie than it would remind me of her catatonic character in The Birds ."

Philharmonics has largely met with a positive response, for example from James Skinner of the BBC, who wrote, "The compositions [...] are calm, gloomy, even sinister, but not without a sense of something uniquely beautiful." In the French culture magazine Les Inrockuptibles , Johanna Seban speaks of a "disarming purity" and continues: "There is such clarity and this calming refinement of a bedside CD in these deeply melancholy ballads." Finally, Ben Edgell in Musicomh believes Agnes Obel sing »with a soft and gossamer grace that swells calmly and serenely over the yearning ornaments of the cello, harp and piano. She is a remote siren, with a dim, almost whispering voice, speaking to Ane Brun or Eva Cassidy . ”French journalists called her“ a revelation to be followed ”.

In terms of critics and also commercially, Agnes Obel's first album was a success. In the opinion of the reviewer Philippe Cornet, Philharmonics is "a hypnotizing hit for an age longing for peace and redemption".In March 2011 the Danish artist performed for the first time in the United States. At the South by Southwest (SXSW) Festival in Austin, she played all of the songs on her album.

Three pieces from the album made it onto the soundtrack for the 2009 film Submarino ("Riverside", "Brother Sparrow" and "Philharmonics"). "Riverside" was also used in the episode "Not Responsible" on Grey's Anatomy and in the 12th episode of the second season of Offspring . "Avenue" was played in the episode "Trust" by Revenge . "Riverside" was selected as the music for the episode "Zwiespalt" ("Duplicity") by Revenge and the episode "Hotel Pivoine" ("What Are You Doing Here, Ho-Bag? ") Of the Ringer series . "Fuel to Fire" can be heard in the episode "The Big Uneasy" by The Originals . In April 2011 the Danish band Lulu Rouge released a remix version of Agnes Obel's “Riverside”, in which the musicians add their typical electro beat to the famous piece without touching the original beauty of the song. Even before the album was even released, the gentle and shallow sounds of »Just So« served as background music for a Deutsche Telekom advertising film that was shown on television in 2008.

On February 7, 2011 PIAS Recordings released a deluxe version of Philharmonics . This version contained five more tracks: two instrumental versions of "Riverside" and "Just So" as well as three live versions of "Over the Hill", "Just So" and a new track called "Smoke & Mirrors". On the Riverside EP , Agnes Obel interprets »Sons & Daughters«, a track that can only be heard on this album.

After 10,000 copies sold, the album was awarded gold by the Belgian Entertainment Association (BEA) in June 2011 . A few months earlier, in February 2011, Philharmonics was nominated Impala European Independent Album of the Year and the track "Riverside" (from the Submarino soundtrack ) won the Robert Award for Best Song of 2011.

In October 2011 Agnes Obel received the European Border Breakers Award 2012. The award honors the best newcomers in European pop music, "who have managed to win over audiences outside their home country with talent and energy."

In November 2011 she won five prizes at the Danish Music Awards with her first album : She won in the categories of Best Album of the Year, Best Pop Release of the Year, Best Newcomer of the Year, Best Artist of the Year and Best Songwriting of the Year .

Aventine

Agnes Obel started working on her second album in 2011. “I started to write new pieces, but they were all instrumental, only with the piano ... At the moment I'm more inclined to compose instrumental pieces. I've already started writing lyrics, but it's harder for me to find melodies. "

In January 2013 the album was ready for mixing. On June 20 of the same year, Obel announced that their new album Aventine would be released on September 30, 2013.

“On the last album, I didn't want to disturb the melody with too many stories. This time I wanted to find out if I was able to draw pictures with words, with the sound of the words […] I think it's good when the person who is listening feels something different from the person who is designing. We all hear from different perspectives. [...] I don't want to force my subjective way of thinking on the listener. «(Agnes Obel on Aventine )

She described the work in the studio as follows: »I recorded everything very close together, mike everything very close together in a small room, with the singing here, the piano there - everything is very close to you. So the equipment was sparse, but by changing the dynamic range of each song, I was able to create entire soundscapes, so to speak. With those few instruments I could make it feel big. "

Agnes Obel played the iTunes UK Festival at the Roundhouse in London on September 17th, 2013 . "It is a fascinating compilation of remarkable pieces, the varied and intense arrangements of which are supported by Obel's fascinating voice," summed up Frank Eidel from quebecspot.com.

Aventine was available on iTunes from September 24, 2014 . Tom Burgel wrote: "The few reactions we received were consistently positive and already testified to great enthusiasm: Agnes' elegance and the rarely heard grace of her compositions will undoubtedly make some fans heartbeat."

The Mushroompromotions website said: “ Aventine is a wonderful album, fascinating in its calmness. If the first slab represented a hike through the forest, this slab takes the time to admire the beauty of every single leaf and to feel its fine leaf structure. It is microcosmic and comprehensive at the same time. [...] Agnes designs her own world, or as she calls it, her own bell jar to make her music. In there (or rather out there?) Your subconscious takes the lead. This is the secret of her modus operandi, a fact that she cannot explain herself, but which fits in wonderfully with the heavenly quality of her music. "

In October 2014, three new tracks were released in a deluxe version of Aventine . In addition, David Lynch added a remix of "Fuel to Fire". “It's been a pleasure doing this remix. I came across Agnes' music through my record company. [...] I think she has a beautiful voice and can do things with her that are extraordinary and unique. "

In October 2014 Agnes Obel performed for the first time in the legendary L'Olympia concert hall in Paris .

Her romantic piano ballad “September Song” from the album can be heard again and again in the 2017 HBO award-winning series “Big Little Lies”.

Citizen of Glass

During her tour in 2014, Agnes Obel began collecting new material for a third album. »I plan to use the piano a little less in order to make more use of other types of old keyboard instruments. [...] I'm trying to find new instruments for my work and I'm still in the trial phase. I also start to write my first things. Agnes continues: “I have some firm ideas, but I don't think it's a good idea to go into detail at such an early stage. First and foremost, I plan to experiment with old keyboard instruments such as the spinet or the harpsichord and then see where they will take me. "

In June 2015, Agnes Obel was able to go into the studio, where she recorded strings with the new musicians Frédérique Labbow, Kristina Koropecki and John Corban.

A year later, in June 2016, Obel released a new single from her upcoming album »Familiar«. The song was recorded, produced and mixed by her. You can also hear John Corban on violin and Kristina Koropecki and Charlotte Danhier on cello. Her husband Alex Brüel Flagstad took over the associated video shoot. »Agnes Obel expands her musical field of activity without being unfaithful to her graceful style. Powerful percussion forms the basis for a filigree, acrobatic melody, which the singer interprets with a remarkably expressive voice. Yes, Obel, as if divided by technology, gives a duet with its echo, which sounds confusingly masculine due to the color of its voice «, noted Hugo Cassavetti from Télérama .

In July 2016, Agnes Obel announced that her third studio album will hit the shelves on October 21. She explains the mysterious title as follows: »The title is borrowed from the German metaphor of the transparent citizen. It is actually a legal term used to describe the degree of privacy that an individual has in a state. In the area of ​​health, it aims at how much we know about a person's body, biology or history - if it is made entirely of glass, we know everything. "

“I really wanted to convey the feeling of being transparent, because I definitely look up to lyricists and singers who treat themselves like that. But I was also afraid to deal with myself in this way, always wavering on the border between the personal and the private. "(Agnes Obel on Citizen of Glass )

In addition to violins , cellos, harpsichords , a spinet, and a celesta , Agens Obel used a trautonium , a rare electronic musical instrument from the 1930s.

Another single followed in September 2016 with »Golden Green«. “The sound of 'Glass' is never far away. The song is about how we always find other people's lives better than our own. [...] She brings out her dreamy voice very well. Basically, it's a classic pop song in perfection and without frills. Beguiling, Elysian, as if from paradise «, says Niels Bruwier in the Belgian music magazine Dansende Beren.

Another song from Citizen of Glass was released in October 2016 . "Stretch Your Eyes" is a new version of the older "Spinet Song" that she played on her 2014 tour.

In the same month, the album Citizen of Glass came out and immediately met with a positive response: »With some great songs, including the surrealistic› Stretch Your Eyes ‹or the brilliant› Golden Green ‹, Agnes Obel has a splendid, strange and modern one Album created. Citizen of Glass is impressive evidence of her status as a great pop artist, «writes the French newspaper La Croix .

The album debuted at number 30 on the British album charts . With 3,540 CDs sold, it became their first Top 40 album in the UK.

On Metacritic Citizen of Glass achieved an average of 81 points in seven categories, which expresses worldwide enthusiasm.

For 2016 Citizen of Glass received the IMPALA (The Independent Music Companies Association) Album of the Year Award, which annually honors the best album release on a European independent label.

Influences

Agnes Obel was influenced by artists such as Roy Orbison and by the French composers Claude Debussy , Maurice Ravel and Erik Satie . Edgar Allan Poe , the photographers Sibylle Bergemann , Robert Mapplethorpe , Tina Modotti and Alfred Hitchcock are also important to her .

She says of Hitchcock: "I like his mysterious style, his highly developed aesthetic, which always comes along with an extreme simplicity." The cover of her first album, taken by the Berlin photographer Mali Lazell, pays homage to Die Vögel .

One source of inspiration is the experimental filmmaker Maya Deren . It happens that Obel tests some of their demos on Deren's films. [53] She is also a fan of Nina Simone : »I have a fantastic live album by Nina Simone, on which she sings:› Who Knows Where The Time Goes ‹. Your singing seems to come out of nowhere. Magical. « [54] In addition to classical music, Obel listens to artists such as Mort Garson ( The Zodiac - Cosmic Sounds ), The Smiths ( How Soon Is Now? ) Or Françoise Hardy (» Où va la chance «). [55]

After the covers by John Cale and Jeff Buckley , Agnes Obel interpreted the » Hallelujah « as a tribute to the late Leonard Cohen at the Victoire de la Musique 2017 in February of that year .

Awards

Trivia

The single Familiar was used in the 2017 Netflix production Dark (season 1, episode 3). The single It's Happening Again was used in the next season of the same series (season 2, episode 1).

Her song The Curse served in abbreviated form as the title song of the three-part Belgian-French mini-series Behind the Walls (2015), which was broadcast on Arte on German television in 2018.

Discography

Albums

  • Philharmonics (2010)
  • Aventine (2013)
  • Citizen of Glass (2016)
  • Myopia (2020)

Singles

  • Just So (2009, DK:goldgold, Streaming)
  • Riverside (2010, DK: +platinumplatinum, Streaming)
  • Brother Sparrow (2011, DK:goldgold, Streaming)
  • The Curse (2013)
  • Familiar (2016)
  • Broken Sleep (2020)

Filmography

  • Drengen der gik baglæns ( The Boy Who Walked Backwards ) (Director: Thomas Vinterberg) (1994)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Chart sources: Denmark Germany Austria Switzerland UK
  2. ↑ Awards for music sales: DK
  3. ^ A b Philippe Cornet : Agnes Obel: "Il faut laisser la mélodie décider du texte" . Focus VIF , May 5, 2001, accessed September 14, 2019 (French).
  4. ↑ a b ultratop.be - ULTRATOP BELGIAN CHARTS. Retrieved July 3, 2018 .
  5. ↑ a b Agnes Obels store triumf ved DMA . In: nyheder.tv2.dk . November 5, 2011 ( online [accessed July 3, 2018]).
  6. ↑ Agnes Obel wins IMPALA European Independent Album Of The Year award . ( Online [accessed July 3, 2018]).
  7. ↑ a b c d La soif de spleen d'Agnes Obel . In: Télérama.fr . ( Online [accessed July 3, 2018]).
  8. ↑ a b AGNES OBEL - Interview - Stars Are Underground . In: Stars Are Underground . November 21, 2010 ( online [accessed July 3, 2018]).
  9. ↑ Florence Moreau: La Voix du Nord. Retrieved February 25, 2011 .
  10. ↑ La grâce mélancolique de la secrète Agnes Obel. Retrieved July 3, 2018 (French).
  11. ↑ Thomas Vinterberg: Drengen the gik baglæns. February 1995, accessed July 3, 2018 .
  12. ↑ Carina Borg: Portræt af Agnes Obel. DR, December 29, 2010, accessed January 4, 2011 .
  13. ↑ n-tv news: Agnes Obel sings us a warm blanket . In: n-tv.de . ( Online [accessed July 3, 2018]).
  14. ↑ Planet Notion »Interview: Agnes Obel. Retrieved July 3, 2018 .
  15. ^ Neil McCormick: New Faces: Agnes Obel . April 6, 2011, ISSN  0307-1235 ( online [accessed July 3, 2018]).
  16. ↑ a b Matthieu Millecamps: La Grâce naturelle de Mademoiselle Obel. September 13, 2011, accessed February 25, 2011 .
  17. ^ Tous les concerts - page 1/1. Retrieved July 3, 2018 .
  18. ↑ James Skinner: BBC - Music - Review of Agnes Obel - Philharmonics. Retrieved July 3, 2018 (UK English).
  19. ^ Johanna Seban: Agnes Obel La Pureté désarmante. December 9, 2010, accessed February 25, 2011 .
  20. ↑ Agnes Obel - Philharmonics | album reviews | musicOMH. December 21, 2010, archived from the original on December 21, 2010 ; accessed on July 3, 2018 .
  21. ↑ Agnes Obel . In: FIGARO . February 7, 2011 ( online [accessed July 3, 2018]).
  22. ↑ Agnes Obel schedule. Archived from the original on January 11, 2012 ; Retrieved January 2, 2012 .
  23. ↑ Agnes Obel . In: SOUNDVENUE.COM . ( Online [accessed July 3, 2018]).
  24. ↑ Rock Steady Music: Agnes Obel on Revenge (ABC). In: Rock Steady Music. Retrieved September 14, 2019 .
  25. ^ The CW Music | Soundtracks | Featured Artists. Retrieved July 3, 2018 (American English).
  26. ^ Agnes Obel, Riverside - Lulu Rouge Remix. In: FAT BERRI'S | Electronic Music Blog. Retrieved July 3, 2018 .
  27. ^ Impala European Independent Album of the Year. Impala Music, archived from the original on May 13, 2011 ; accessed on September 14, 2019 .
  28. ↑ Nominerede personer 2011. Danmarks film Akademi, archived from the original on July 19, 2011 ; Retrieved March 1, 2011 .
  29. ^ Winners of the European Border Breakers Awards 2012. January 17, 2012, archived from the original on January 17, 2012 ; accessed on July 5, 2018 .
  30. ↑ Agnes Obel. Retrieved July 5, 2018 .
  31. ↑ Agnes Obel. Retrieved July 5, 2018 .
  32. ↑ Agnes Obel: understated elegance on her second album 'Aventine' - France 24 . In: France 24 . January 1, 1970 ( online [accessed July 5, 2018]).
  33. ↑ Agnes Obel Announces New Album 'Aventine' Released 30th September 2013 . In: Contactmusic.com . June 21, 2013 ( online [accessed July 5, 2018]).
  34. ^ Aventine, le new album d'agnes Obel, available le 1st octobre. Archived from the original on December 13, 2013 ; Retrieved September 29, 2013 .
  35. ↑ Agnes Obel: The album Aventine en écoute en avant-première . In: Les Inrocks . ( Online [accessed July 5, 2018]).
  36. ↑ ALBUM BIO: Agnes Obel - Aventine [PIAS Australia] (Out Friday, September 27th 2013) | Mushroom Promotions . In: Mushroom Promotions . August 12, 2013 ( online [accessed July 5, 2018]).
  37. ↑ Welcome. Retrieved July 5, 2018 (American English).
  38. ↑ Madelyn Dutt : 9:30 am INTERVIEW: Anges Obel . In: The 9:30 Club . 2014, archived from the original on November 2, 2014 ; accessed on September 14, 2019 (English).
  39. ↑ Agnes Obel . In: HUNGER TV . ( Online [accessed July 5, 2018]).
  40. ^ New album on the way - UPDATE June 27th. June 7, 2015, archived from the original on July 9, 2015 ; accessed on June 13, 2015 .
  41. ↑ Welcome. Retrieved July 5, 2018 (American English).
  42. ↑ Regardez le nouveau clip d'Agnes Obel . In: Télérama.fr . ( Online [accessed July 5, 2018]).
  43. ↑ Agnes Obel Announce New Album, Citizen of Glass -. Retrieved July 5, 2018 (American English).
  44. ↑ Agnes Obel on her new album, Citizen of Glass . In: The Independent . ( Online [accessed July 5, 2018]).
  45. ↑ ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: Agnes Obel on Stay Loose. )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / agnesobel.org
  46. ^ Nieuwe single Agnes Obel - Golden Green . In: Dansende Beren . August 31, 2016 ( online [accessed July 5, 2018]).
  47. ↑ Agnès Obel, Résonances d'un monde de verre . In: La Croix . October 17, 2016, ISSN  0242-6056 ( online [accessed July 5, 2018]).
  48. ↑ Official Charts Analysis: Elvis tops the albums chart again | Analysis | Music Week. Retrieved July 5, 2018 .
  49. ^ Artistic Photography. Retrieved July 5, 2018 .
  50. ↑ Drengen der gik baglæns (1995). Retrieved July 29, 2017 .

Web links

Commons : Agnes Obel  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Obel, Agnes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Thaarup Obel, Agnes Caroline (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Danish singer and songwriter
DATE OF BIRTH October 28, 1980
PLACE OF BIRTH Copenhagen , Denmark