★★★★★
Had a bad day at work ? Put this record on and kick back. Feeling angry with the guy who just cut you up at a road junction ? Slip this CD into the car stereo. Agnes will soothe your furrowed brow with a gentle hand and bring your heart rate down to near catatonic levels. The power of this album to invoke a sense of peace is quite remarkable...
- www.sputnikmusic.com
2014-04-08
★★★★★
"Ethereal" is an overused adjective for female singer/songwriters. But for Danish chamber folk artist Agnes Obel, it absolutely applies. The songs on her sophomore effort, without veering into Enya territory, could be lifted from a fantasy film. Not an overwrought soundtrack like the Hobbit or Game Of Thrones, but a modern fairy tale like 2009's Ondine, say, had Ondine not turned out to be a Romanian drug mule instead of a selkie...
- nowtoronto.com
2014-01-23
★★★★★
On 2010's Philharmonics, Danish pianist Agnes Obel infused her songs with a deep and resonant melancholy. Sparse, somber and filled with gently beguiling melodies, it was an unexpected hit in her native Denmark (as well as in France, Belgium and her adopted home of Germany), and one that provides a decent idea of what to expect from this, her second.
Like her debut album, Aventine opens with a short instrumental...
- thequietus.com
2013-10-29
★★★★★
The craze for all things Danish and austere could well stretch to this crepuscular pianist. Agnes Obel's second album, named after one of Rome's seven hills, has something of PJ Harvey's White Chalk album about it - a mournful sternness, hinting at passions long buried. A little string-plucking, some groaning cello and the odd beat adorn Obel's tightly focused set of songs, which approximate the sound of snow falling on a disused chapel while a solitary candle burns inside - with a spider...
- www.theguardian.com
2013-09-29
★★★★★
Agnes Obel's pristine, delicate 2010 debut, Philharmonics, was an unexpected platinum-selling sensation in her home country of Denmark, and a hit throughout Europe. The sudden fame left her reeling, and on Aventine, the classically trained pianist/singer has tried to make sense of things. Accompanied mainly by a single cellist, she has created a quiet, watchful record - a response to having spent 18 months in "a blur" of touring...
- www.theguardian.com
2013-09-27
★★★★★
Agnes Obel's 2010 debut Philharmonics grabbed attention through its understatement, eventually achieving quintuple-platinum status in her native Denmark. Aventine follows in like vein: the hushed preciosity of her murmur recalls the similarly understated Ane Brun, while her piano settings are strongly redolent of Erik Satie, especially the opening instrumental "Chord Left", melodically reminiscent of one of the Gnossiennes...
- www.independent.co.uk
2013-09-30
★★★★★
Sparseness. It's a much undervalued commodity these days - everything has to be intense, in your face, and hurtling along at 100mph. Work it, twerk it, go viral and never, ever take a breath to rest, for fear that the next bright young thing could take your place. Thankfully, this is a mindset that has no place in Agnes Obel's world.
Obel's debut album, Philharmonics, was something of a phenomenon in her native Denmark...
- www.musicomh.com
2013-09-29
★★★★★
Sound: "Philharmonics" opens with a simple and playful piano instrumental, "Falling Catching". While an opening instrumental can be a warning sign for those who require accessibility in their music, the young Danish songwriter is not enticed by the temptation to self gratify, she keeps the piece short and sweet and leads us through the door into her world...
- www.ultimate-guitar.com
2012-04-12
★★★★★
Originally released towards the back end of 2010, the austere charm of Danish-born and Berlin-based singer songwriter Agnes Obel's debut album has seen it dominate charts across the continent, gracing top ten best seller lists on France and the Netherlands, and sitting at number one in her patria for seven weeks...
- drownedinsound.com
2011-05-23
Loading...
