Beautiful Creature Agnes Obel, Drops Stunning New Track

Sure, you may say that the best epically cinematic piece of music floating around right now is Light of the Seven (you know, the one from the explosive beginning of the Game of Thrones season 6 finale). The truth is that’s simply not the case. That title goes to Familiar, from Denmark born, Berlin-based songtress Agnes Obel (Who is NOT Angel Olson btw).

Familiar is the first new music from Obel since her breakthrough album ‘Aventine’. She mixes the stylings of Ingrid Michaelson with the intensity of heart and soul of someone like Florence Welch. Considerable warning though, if you listen to this song you may fall irrevocably in love.

Obel is a master of making beautiful, ethereal music and Familiar is an amazing development of that style. The track starts out with a soft and melancholic melody that is very reminiscent of her early singles like Riverside and Brother Sparrow. The difference lies within the production. Where Riverside and Brother Sparrow are far more bare-bones, with piano and sparing guitar, Familiar fattens the sound with layers of instrumentals and percussion. The result is an even more magical experience.

The most stunning factor of this track arrives a minute and a half into the song. By pitch-shifting her voice, Obel creates an incredible ambience that engulfs you. She almost creates a duet with herself as she transitions from the depth of the chorus to the natural vocals of the verses. This back and forth is accompanied by strings, harps and orchestral embellishments that give an intensity fit for some sort of epic piece of cinema.

Obel has a weird ability to mix poetic lyrics with moving music that makes you want to cry, but in a cathartic way. It’s just so weighty, it feels like you’re listening to someone’s soul. Their beautiful Scandinavian soul. If hearts could sigh, this is what it would sound like.

The video is well suited to the track. Mixing elements of animation with footage of cities, eyeballs, machinery, Obel herself and lit with neon pixels; it’s a hypnotising visual. In fact it almost feels like a religious experience. In short, this is an amazing song and hopefully a sign of good things to come from Agnes Obel.