Album: Agnes Obel - Aventine | Release: 27.09.13

Has it really been almost three years since "Philharmonics"? Agnes Obel's debut album still sounds as fresh as it did on first listen. A delicate record, a quiet phenomenon: to this day, it has sold almost half a million copies. "Philharmonics" received a Gold certification in the Netherlands, Platinum in Belgium and France, and five times Platinum in her home country Denmark, where Agnes Obel was also awarded five Danish Music Awards in 2011.

The second album is said to be the most difficult of all. You spend your whole life preparing for the debut, and as soon as it's out, the clock is already ticking for the successor. So how did the winner of the European Border Breakers Award 2012 avoid the traditional pitfalls for album No. 2?

With "Aventine", Agnes Obel certainly puts things into perspective. The second album adds depth to the picture. Otherwise, the debut stands alone, like a brilliant snapshot, but without a real indication of where the journey is headed. Now we know. "Aventine" is fascinatingly unhurried. If "Philharmonics" was a walk in the woods, this album takes the time to see and feel the beauty and texture of a single leaf. And for that reason, it is both microcosmic and universal at the same time.

Agnes Obel wrote, arranged, recorded, and produced all the songs on the album between early 2012 and late spring of this year, at home and in a studio in Kreuzberg. Fans may remember "Fuel To Fire" and "Smoke & Mirrors" from her concerts in 2011.

When David Bowie lived in Berlin in the 1970s, he wrote the city deep into his songs. It was Tony Visconti, his producer, "standing by the wall" on "Heroes". Agnes Obel, on the other hand, creates her own world, or as she calls it, a bubble, a diving vessel, to make her music. "It's strange," says Obel, "as if I have to escape the mood of the city for the music, even though I really love living in Berlin." Once inside (or should we rather say "outside"?), her awareness of what is happening around her increasingly fades away.

"Aventine" revolves almost entirely around the piano and voice of Agnes Obel – and the cello of Anne Müller, who was already featured on "Philharmonics" and has been part of the live lineup since 2009. Additionally, on three tracks, Mika Posen from the Canadian band Timber Timbre can be heard on violin and viola, on "Pass Them By" the guitar of Robert Kondorossi, also known from the debut, and on "Fuel To Fire" the Scottish harp of Gillian Fleetwood. Thus, Agnes Obel paints with bolder brushstrokes more complicated patterns, without losing her lightness – an astonishing balancing act.

"Chord Left", an inviting bridge to its predecessor, leads into "Fuel To Fire", which sets the cinematic tone for the album, zooming in close to the crackling of roaring flames, then lingering at a distance, until they merge into a tiny, bright point in a dark, blurred landscape.

"Aventine" is a wonderfully melodic work (even though Agnes Obel claims she finds it hard to write melodies). "The Curse" is the first single. Imagine a trailer for your favorite film of the year. Every year.

"The Curse" and "Run Cried The Crawling" are for Agnes Obel the songs that best define "Aventine" as a whole. These are the two songs that come closest to my original idea for the album. Both very different from what I had done before, but at the same time very connected to it. "Run Cried The Crawling" also preserves the cinematic feeling of the record. Of course, the mention of Twin Peaks is long on the index, but if there is a song here that conjures up a beautiful corpse, drowned in stories...

Thus, "Aventine" allows us to conclude on an upward curve in the trajectory of Agnes Obel. A timeless debut is accompanied by a second album full of historical references. Agnes Obel and her music could belong to any era – crackling in a fifties jukebox in some diner, soothing for the sixties souls of the Woodstock generation, shining like silver spurs in seventies Nashville. You can trace a line in her music that stretches from Bela Bartok to Sandy Denny, from Satie to John Lurie (and imagine she had already done the soundtracks for early Jim Jarmusch films...)

"I kept hearing and seeing more connections in the music to all kinds of genres from different times, even outside the genres I usually associate with my music." And of course, the voice is the heart of it all. It stays with us long after the needle has lifted from the record (for vinyl lovers). "For me," says Agnes Obel, "sounds have always been more interesting than words. I love it when the voice becomes an instrument and you almost forget that it is a human voice."

We could now talk about unusual classical string techniques. Or about how the cello claims a central role, along with the voice and the piano. We could also look for references and allusions in the titles, including that of the album: "Aventine" - the southernmost of the seven hills of Rome? But perhaps nothing more needs to be explained. This music speaks for itself.


Agnes Obel concert dates:
18.10.13, DE - Oldenburg, Kulturetage
31.10.13, DE - Frankfurt, Heilig Geist Kirche
02.11.13, LUX - Esch, Rockhal
04.11.13, DE- Freiburg, Jazzhaus
07.11.13, DE - Stuttgart, Theaterhaus
08.11.13, DE - Heidelberg, Karlstorbahnhof (Enjoy Jazz Festival)
09.11.13, CH - Zürich, Kaufleuten
10.11.13, CH - Zürich, Kaufleuten
13.11.13, DE - Köln, Kulturkirche
03.01.14, DE - Berlin, Philharmonie


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