Album Review: Agnes Obel – Citizen Of Glass
2 min read
There are a handful of artists whose music is so personal and gifted that it can’t simply be defined by sound or genre. With the songs feeling like sensory illusions, and magic motions rather than routine products – this is all too apparent in Agnes Obel’s Citizen Of Glass. Expect a culmination of meticulous musical mastery, and sonic vibrations that enkindle with love and uncharted class.
Profusions of character immediately spill from the records first track, Stretch Your Eyes. A humble mist of composed sincerity and graphic vocal unification capture the vibe and reel in all emotion. These lineaments are detailed in every track on Citizen Of Glass and made increasingly powerful by the peculiar and unconventional instruments sourced for the record. Sounding like a film score in parts, this incredible audio journey manifests a new channelling of sound both eccentric and engaging. Whether this is in the form of the dusty frontier excitement in Red Virgin Soil or the expanded piano ballad within the endearing It’s Happening Again – there’s tremendous attention to detail that Obel so scrupulously endures. The vocal’s display above the instruments in an atmospheric patience, bestowing feelings of gentle friendship and a comforting touch. Obel’s self-harmonising vocal manipulations congregate peacefully, combining with a moving awareness and heartfelt minimalism. This is supremely suggested in Stone, as a harp-like universality flutters around Obel’s otherworldly vocal bearing and kind nature. Then there’s the instrumental tracks like Grasshopper that fluctuate between a poignant humility and piano relationship – adding to an aphrodisiac weighted masterpiece of a record.
Agnes Obel’s resulted recordings for Citizen Of Glass are truly awe-inspiring. The music captures all possible unknown rhythmic pleasures – compassionately reaching for a simple and effective sovereignty. This is just one of the moods felt throughout the record. With each listen, a new piece of fragile audio is heard, felt and potently remembered. An unforgettable collection of music at it’s most purest and finest.
