SOUNDTRACK: AGNES OBEL-Tiny Desk Concert #599 (February 15, 2017).
Agnes Obel recently 
played a show near me, but it wasn’t until after I watched this show that I realized I should have gone to see her.
Agnes Obel, a Danish singer and writer of deeply alluring music, brought her work into what you could call its opposite — an office in the daylight. While the setting is a bit contrary to her carefully plotted, vocally dense songs, she mapped out a strategy which included her own reverb and monitor mix in the (successful, I think) hope of giving the Tiny Desk an aesthetic more suitable to these focused and powerful songs.
Obel plays three songs from Citizen of Glass alongside her band, keeping it sonically spare. “It’s Happening Again” opens with fairly standard-sounding piano chords. Then Obel’s voice kicks in and it’s unique–not weird, but with a cool almost detached delivery. Accompanying her is a cellist and keyboardist. They each sing backing vocals (along with a third backing vocalist). When they all sing together, it is magical–sometimes creepy, sometimes beautiful. The song builds to the end with all of the strings growing louder as the cello plays some wild, sliding sounds. It is quite striking.
For “Golden Green,” the cellist switches to percussion (which is a kind of clacky ball that she throws in the air). The main melody comes from the mellotron. Once again when the backing vocalists kick, in everything is magical, especially the way the final note ends with a dramatic rise in pitch from all of the singers.
On “Stone,” the mellotron player switches to (electric) ukulele. The melody comes from the uke and it is quite quiet until the chord when the cello and keyboard adds some deep bass notes that seem to overwhelm the room–quite dramatic and quite lovely.
[READ: December 1, 2016] Bandette Volume Three
Bandette Volume Three is just as much fun as books one and two. It opens with Bandette getting shot at as she gives her little dog Pimento an important note for Daniel. Daniel calls her and she proceeds to tell him about an upcoming heist (while she is still being shot at). She says that there is a fabulous emerald on display. An emerald that was once owned by Madame Presto: fabulist, mesmerist, woman of impudent morals.
And later that night (after she easily dispatches the bad guys) she goes to that special event and steals… a film about Madame Presto.
The next night several people (and a dog) are hit with sleeping darts from a new villain–Dart Petite. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 