Agnes Obel

There is a rare naturalness to Agnes Obel’s ability to unite the refined with the accessible. Over a career spanning more than fifteen years, the Danish-born, Berlin-based singer, composer, producer and classically trained pianist has reached a large international audience without compromising either her artistic integrity or her distinctive musical identity. In her music, elegant chamber pop meets neoclassical influences, jazz, alternative pop and electronic music. Piano and strings mingle with subtle electronics, manipulated voices and unexpected instruments, creating a sound in which melancholy and restraint are combined with an almost cinematic power of suggestion. This is music that can be both austere and sensual, immediate and enigmatic, yet through Obel’s singular voice and melodic sensibility it always remains unmistakably her own.

Six years after the acclaimed and introspective “Myopia”, Agnes Obel now returns with her fifth studio album, “The Meaning of Flowers”. Here she brings together widely differing realms of thought, ranging from the ancient poetry of Enheduanna and the philosophy of Emanuele Coccia to Danish pop from the 1980s and 1990s. Also central are her experience of motherhood and Hannah Arendt’s concept of natality – the human capacity to begin anew – which has opened up new paths for Obel in both thought and composition. The result is an album in which her familiar gift for atmosphere, melodic precision and intricate detail finds new forms of expression. Dedicated to her daughter, it also becomes a reflection on change, creation and all that remains to be understood.