Agnes Obel, from Denmark, got her start with music at a young age. Her family always had various instruments lying around their home. Obel’s mother, a talented musician, would play Chopin and Bartok on the piano constantly filling their home with music. As a result of her upbringing, Obel began playing piano at a young age. She was told by her classical music teacher to not play songs she didn’t like and thats exactly what she did.

Obel released her first album Philharmonics in 2010 which she produced, sang, wrote and played the entire album. Obel said “The orchestral or symphonic music never interested me. I always was attracted by simple melodies, almost childish.(…) I put a long time before writing texts because the music seems to tell already a story, to project images.”

In 2011, Obel began working on her second album after the success of Philharmonics. The new album titled “Aventine” was released in 2013 and received numerous awards. Of this album Obel has said “On the last album, I didn’t want to disturb the melody with too many stories. This time, I wanted to know if I was able to create images with words, with the sound of words.(…) I think that’s a good thing when the one who is listening, is feeling it in a different way that the one who creates. We are all listening with different perspectives.(…) I don’t want to impose my subjectivity to the listener.” Obel is currently working on her third studio album but there is not an expected release date yet.

I first fell in love with Obel’s music when I stumbled upon the song “Dorian” To be honest I never really expolored her other music until a few months ago and I’m sure glad I did. If you’re not sure where to start I recommend listening to Aventine first. I’ve featured my personal favorites below and if you have enough time I encourage you to watch the last video which is beautifully filmed in my opinion. Thanks for the read and I hope you enjoy!

// M

agnesobel.com