Agnes Obel – Aventine (2013)

When I was working on my music geography blog a few years ago, I wasn't expecting that much from the music of Denmark. Most of the Danish bands I knew were not really that interesting and Danish music just brought to mind the awful 90's techno bands. When I started doing my research, however, I found out that there were quite a few great Danish bands that I hadn't known about before. Agnes Obel was one of the most interesting artists I found in this way. Her music is very beautiful and somehow haunting. The piano takes the lead in most of the songs with the vocals, sometimes with accompanying strings. For someone like me, who really enjoys beautiful melodies and clean vocals, this album sounded magical. I bought the album on a beautiful digipak CD. I've listened to it quite a lot since then.



The whole album sounds quite the same, which is one minus I would give it, but otherwise I can't find anything bad to say about it. The mood is magical and Obel's voice goes right under your skin. The piano playing is also top notch. Obel does almost everything on this album herself. There is some collaboration with Mika Posen of Timber Timbre, however. Perhaps because of small number of people involved makes this album sound so intimate and still somehow spacey.

Obel has released some music videos as well. I think Fuel of Fire music video is a great one as it's in black and white and has a kind of old film noir style that fits the music really well. It seems like the video would actually be from the 1930's. Whether that's the case, I don't know.

The sound of the album is maybe closer to classical music than pop, but the songs have pop structure and of course the lyrics are more modern than that. I like it when people get a bit out of their presumed genre by combining influences from various different traditions. It makes the music sound quite unique. There are some amazing pizzicato sequences on the album. I've always had a soft spot for pizzicato. I wouldn't, however, want to take the focus of amazing strings played with the bow either, because the strings are overall quite amazing. Especially the low notes on Fuel to Fire are amazing.

If I had to compare Obel's music to something else, the first thing that comes to mind is Sigur Rós. I don't know why, because Sigur Rós has a lot more going on and the sound is huge compared to the intimate sound of Agnes Obel. However, I feel like there's similar kind of Nordic mystique in their sounds. I feel like the album sounds like the rugged and rocky nature in Iceland. This album also sounds like autumn or winter. It's not the kind of music that I would listen to so much in the summer time. So, I guess this is a good chance to promote this album when the nights are getting darker and colder.

This is a great album and it's best served with a glass of red wine, blankets and some candles. I guess this is what Danish Hygge is all about.

Listen to the album on Spotify.