beautiful

AGNES OBEL - PHILHARMONICS CD

Anyone who heard the recent Riverside 10" EP from Danish-born Agnes Obel will know exactly what sort of spectral loveliness to expect from the singer-songwriter's full-length. Philharmonics is a delicately poised affair that certainly doesn't over-do it in terms of the arrangements; pieces such as 'Beast', 'Just So' and 'Close Watch' manage to sound haunting and intimate without having to build-up the instrumentation too much. In all these cases, light piano or harp backdrops provide the perfect context for Obel's multitracked vocals to really shine, although some well-placed strings and percussion flesh out the album's gloomier corners, as on the ghostly title track and the waltzing 'Avenue'. Good stuff.



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