Myopia
Blue Note, 2020
8/10
The Danish singer-songwriter Agnes Obel returns with a 4th album, and much like her previous work, the esteemed artist mixes vocals, strings and piano, among other noisemakers, in her inimitable and often ethereal formula.
“Camera’s Rolling” starts the listen with soft instrumentation and soothing vocals in the dreamy, bare opener, and “Broken Sleep” follows with an expressive and string friendly peek into textured beauty.
Further along, the title track brings orchestral and classical ideas to the hazy affair as cellos and violins add much to the equation, while “Drosera” recruits keys and moody strings for a cinematic and darker look into her song craft that even offers flues. “Can’t Be”, one of the most alluring selections, then flows with a hypnotic quality amid a blurry, expansive approach.
Towards the end, “Promise Keeper” relies heavily on vocals and sparse keys as shades of folk music enter the equation, and “Won’t You Call Me” ends the listen with ambient melodies in a highly intriguing exit.
A dark listen that’s got plenty of goth appeal, Obel plays with pop and folk sensibilities, too, on an album she recorded in her Berlin home while playing many instruments while expertly layering a journey that’s best taken as a whole and absorbed with the most open of minds.
Travels well with: Yann Tiersen- Infinity; Shannon Wright- In Film Sound