THROUGH THE GLASS CEILING
Agnes Obel takes on North America
For Agnes Obel, creating music is the best part of being a recording artist.
In fact, the Danish-born, Berlin-based singersongwriter confided in an interview that she’s having a hard time letting go of the creative scraps left over from the making of her latest album, Citizen of Glass. It’s a sonically ambitious concept album critics are describing as a “masterpiece” and “essential listening.”
“I feel each song was a journey, and I still miss it,” Obel says. “In my home, I have this big mood board where I put up photographs and poems and images to inspire the songwriting process, and I can’t bear to take it down because I enjoyed it so much.”
The concept was inspired by an article in a German newspaper about “gläserner bürger,” translated as “glass citizen,” a legal term referring to the loss of privacy. Obel saw multiple layers to explore in the phrase, including vulnerability and transparency.
“Obviously the whole political aspect is interesting,” says the 36-year-old. “But I was even more interested in how I could see us all being made of glass, in a way. Not just by being on the Internet but also from being a songwriter and releasing albums. To me, it was the fragility of it — that a citizen can be something fragile and transparent — that makes it so beautiful.”
She illustrates the notion with piano-driven songs that radiate a haunting beauty, including the ghostly love song, Familiar, which features a duet between Obel and a sonically enhanced “male” version of her voice, along with the unhurried Trojan Horses and the swelling It’s Happening Again. The sound is magnificent, lush with unusual effects and instrumentation, but never over the top.
Instead of bringing in an outside producer, Obel laboured over it herself for almost two years. It’s her third self-produced effort.
“I started doing it because I didn’t have a budget, I didn’t have a record deal, I didn’t really have a choice,” she says. “I studied a bit of recording in Denmark. I’m not an expert or anything but I was able to make my own little home studio. Every time I do it myself, I grow from it, and technically, I become better.
“I also like to have control over my production, especially with this last album … the only one who had the vision in his or her head was me. So I was the producer.”
Riding the crest of her album’s success in Europe and the U.K., Obel landed in Montreal this week to kick off the biggest North American tour of her career, an excursion that includes highprofile shows at Austin’s South by Southwest showcase festival, as well as concerts in New York City, Los Angeles and Nashville. Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and Ottawa are among the Canadian dates.
Born in Copenhagen, the singer describes her musical upbringing as eclectic. The daughter of a jazz-playing dad and a classical-loving mom, she took piano lessons at an early age, and went to a music school, “where it was very much The Beatles and a lot of pop music and Stevie Wonder and a big fusion funk thing at the time.”
That’s also where she first played in bands, mostly with guys. Her band usually consists of women, but for the first time, she’ll be adding a man — Montreal violinist John Corban — to the lineup for a few upcoming concerts. Why the focus on female talent?
“Before, when I played in bands, I was always the only girl, and somehow the whole live scene in general is so male-dominated,” she says. “I think I was longing to play music and be on tour and not be the only woman. And maybe also, for so many years I’ve been interested in music as my main thing, and all my music friends are guys. I didn’t know that many girls into recording so I think I always had a secret wish to find other women who are interested in these kinds of things. And obviously I also really like female voices.”
One artist she’s always looked to for inspiration is Joni Mitchell, the legendary Canadian singer-songwriter.
“I think I really admire her work because it’s so much her own. She’s been able to do this very idiosyncratic music from the very beginning. I’ve followed her life through her music, and her creative spirit. I think (the admiration) comes from being so fearless and just insisting on being yourself no matter what is trendy or popular or what other people might think is cool or whatever. You’re the master of your own little universe and you can do it exactly how you want it done. That’s what I think of when I think of her.”