Agnes Obel - Citizen of Glass

Here is a record which is going to reconcile me with my mother. Not that I am angry with her, but it should be noted that we have quite few common musical tastes.

So forget your usual musical tastes for a while, be they common or not, and embark for an enchanting journey. Out of time, out of trends. Like Enya before her.

In this purpose, Agnes Obel delivers music close to repertoire of classical music. Starting with the instruments: she involves three cellists able to diversify their playing, using glissandos and pizzicatos. And of course her usual piano, which I am unable to decide whether the 6-note arpeggios ("Mary", "Trojan Horses") are ternary (1-2-3, 4-5-6), or binary (1-2, 3-4, 5-6). But pay no heed to these technical considerations! Let yourself blown away by the beauty of the music and singing such as a feeble sunbeam breaking through the mist, giving the morning dew a particular sparkle. Hold your breath. Draw out the suspended instant ("Stretch Your Eyes"). It wouldn’t take much to conjure a "Grasshopper" by your side.

Complete the alchemy of instruments with a violin, some percussion and a Trautonium (German electronic instrument, close to the Theremin or the ondes Martenot). No guitar ("Familiar"), no harp ("Stone"), no metallophone ("Golden Green"). So besides the piano, Agnes herself sees to whatever has a keyboard: mellotron, spinet, celesta.
And the voices. Not only on the kaleidoscopic sleeve has the enchantress multiplied herself. In"Familiar" she passes the mike to her male alter ego who is noone but... herself! Technology, unexpectedly used by this Diane Kruger’s doppelganger, makes miracles sometimes, and enables here an unsettling schizophrenic duet.

The lyrics sketch poetic universes that are full of imagery. With this remarkable way of turning them into onomatopoeias ("Stone - cannabee", "Zavenen zavenen zavenen... 'gain" for "It's Happening Again") to make the words even more musical. And this manner of delaying the chorus with a few instrumental bars ("Familiar", "Stretch Your Eyes").

The voices, the instruments, everything is under absolute control. And precisely here is the rub maybe. By dint of will to curb everything, there’s no room left for the slightest inspiration, for the mood of the moment, for spontaneity and for danger. Everyone has the faults of his qualities.
But, opposite so many hastily produced albums by fear of being behind the trend, or off-handedly written, or just non-accomplished, this work of art stays a real pleasure and does so much good to the ear that it should be covered by NHS. My mother will not disagree.