Agnes Obel

Under clear skies in London, a half-moon hangs faintly overhead. There’s a mixed crowd at the 18th-century Somerset House tonight, from people in their late 20s to their 60s. Agnes Obel has a broad reach outside music streaming with her music appearing in popular TV shows like Dark and The Last of Us.

Peter Gregson is a regular supporting musician for Agnes Obel on her tours. He sits alone on the stage with his cello, creating atmospheric, multi-layered songs. I cast my eye around to double check that there’s no one else supporting him, but the stage is empty. Sadly, there’s a technical issue a few songs in, a malfunction somewhere, but he calmly plays something else entirely on the cello whilst the technical team work it out. There was polite applause when he finished, the kind you’d have in the Albert Hall, no uncouth whoops or impolite hollering here.

Well, that was before he played his cover of Charli XCX’s ‘360’, used in Bridgerton season four. He tells us there’s space to dance. I look around and am about to write that no one is, but in front of me, a small crowd has started, which is pleasing. As he finishes and leaves the stage, now come the well-deserved whoops and hollering.

The slender figure of Agnes Obel walks on stage with three other musicians. I’m loath to call them a band or an orchestra, because they are each superb composers and producers in their own right, not that I know that yet at this point in the evening. In any case, they are all wearing pale ivory colours; Obel seems half wrapped with her top and her hair in plaits, some of which looks like it has escaped. The screen at the back of the stage is half lit as though the last rays of summer sunshine are hitting it. “We have lots of new songs for you”, Obel says with her Danish accent, “you’re our test bunnies”.

They start with the haunting ‘Red Virgin Soil’ from Citizen of Glass moving to ‘Fuel to Fire’, a spellbinding fan favourite from Aventine. They play ‘Camera’s Rolling’ with its beautiful vocal harmonies from her 2020 album Myopia.

Agnes moves from her upright piano to the keyboard to sing the first of her new tracks, ‘The Meaning of Flowers’. The delicate synth that Hinako Omori is playing sounds like a plucked harp, which coupled with the high contrast video on the screen behind her reminds me of a ballet dancer with a tutu. To start, the percussion is sparse, the cello screeching. It’s haunting and atmospheric. As the synths come in the percussion picks up and it feels like gentle techno, supported with bassy notes from Marie-Claire Schlameus finger-plucking on the cello. 

For ‘Laymelli’ the screen shows the band on stage in an infinity mirror that shifts from right to left, which feels like a glam rock video from the 1970s. It’s more fast paced, the percussion is thumpingly upbeat. I’d say that this is more orchestral synth pop compared to her earlier songs; heads around me start to nod in time. The audience recognises ‘Familiar’, the screen turns turquoise, with triangles and shapes reminiscent of Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures.

Obel moves back to the upright piano for ‘Run Cried the Crawling’, the screens have turned pink, live videos of the band on stage are projected through prisms, which along with the deep thrum of the cello makes it feel surreal. I feel like I’m in a pink fever dream on a carousel. 

More new songs follow, ‘Faustian Deal’, which is all about mistakes. Julian Sartorius’ varied, precise percussion builds beautifully with the synths from Omori, which sound like backing singers going “oh, oh, oh” in different tones which when paired with the diversity of sounds coming from Schlameus on the cello are really impressive. One moment making it sound like a violin quartet and the next back to a cello. ‘Gemini’ is next, Somerset House is lit up to match the screen in vibrant red. The song feels lighthearted and experimental, there are so many layers to these new songs making them very different to any of her other albums.

“This is another new one”, says Obel in a deadpan voice, “We have no mercy here”. There’s widespread laughter from the crowd. ‘Never Been’ is slower, with Omori on backing vocals, slow finger picking, or pizzicato I have learnt, from Schlameus and more of the textured percussion from Sartorius.

Agnes moves to the synth for ‘Blood So Red’. With sparse percussion and tinkling piano from the synth, it feels very calm and gentle until two minutes in, when deep bass notes from the cello pick up and briefly move you, before it switches back to the calm. Ending on haunting, descending tones from the cello, there’s such a variety on this song, but all the elements combine together in the final minute. Obel’s delicate voice is an instrument in itself, floating and hovering over it all.

She moves back to the piano for ‘Stretch Your Eyes’. The soft grey videos on the screen are like an artist’s sketchpad full of the musicians playing, the visuals throughout the show have been perfectly considered for the music.

For the first of the two-song encore, the crowd are demanding ‘Riverside’. Obel knowingly points and says “the river’s over there”, followed by, “I’ll see what I can come up with”. She doesn’t disappoint us with this version, slower than the album version. It feels like we’re being teased and allowed to languish in the song for longer, it’s wonderful. She does forget the lyrics midway through, saying, “No, that’s wrong”, which led to some laughter from the crowd, but they pick it up where they left off and we don’t miss out.

Glowing floating embers and sparks caught in the wind appear on screen, with the occasional burst of orange for the final, melancholic song ‘The Curse’ which looks great against the band lit in purple. 

According to her Instagram, the new album is finished. Obel says: “It’s a dive into the gift of life — the opening of the mind to its magnitude, complexity and metamorphosis within it as well as the singularity of every single living part”. I’m looking forward to being able to hear it, and in particular ‘Faustian Deal’ and ‘Gemini’, which were up there for me along with the standout tracks from her earlier albums.