Title: Avantine
Artiste: Agnes Obel
Genre: Folk, Classical
Familiarity: Zero
1. Chord left: Lovely lonely piano, very melancholy with some very reflective tones. Instrumental; good start to the album. Interested to hear how she sounds when singing though.
2. Fuel to fire: Fuller piano on this; her voice is pretty sweet with a hint of bitter longing. Nice when she unexpectedly hits those higher notes. I think I hear violin there too. Are there backing vocals, or just her own multitracked? Effective, either way.
3. Dorian: An almost starker feel to this, really rippling piano
4. Avantine: Somehow slightly more uptempo;
pizzicato strings, moaning cello sort of counterpoints the darker tone of the song.
5. Run cried the crawling: A sort of bluesy lament with a nice sway about it and some emotional crooning
6. Tokka: Another short piano instrumental, which for some reason reminds me of those old Hollywood movies about Rome? Meh, don't ask: I'm a strange guy. Very nice tone though, like the kind of fast run at the end of each bar. And then it slows down for a moment before kind of fading out.
7. The curse: First one I haven't been crazy about. Can't say why; it just doesn't grab me like the others did.
8. Pass them by: This one is nicer, has a sweet folky tone to it
9. Words are dead: And this is lovely; very sad and wistful again
10. Fivefold: Short instrumental; not mad about it. Cello is nice, but the piece lacks something.
11. Smoke and mirrors: Really nice closer; like the vocal harmonies.
End result: A nice album. A little too sad all the time (or most of it) for my tastes, but she has a nice voice and can certainly play the piano. Quite relaxing, in a dark, bitter kind of way.
So, Love or Hate? I think it would have to be a
Love.