Album Citizen of Glass, sortie le 21 octobre 2016
http://www.rtbf.be/lapremiere/article_interview-exclusive-d-agnes-obel?id=9435294&category=ENTREZ%20SANS%20FRAPPER&programId=8521&sourceTitle=Entrez+sans+frapper&programType=emission
Dans cet interview Agnes Obel nous parle de ses impressions du live avec cet album, des instruments utilisés, de sa technique d'enregistrement, et le concept de l'album, le verre. Elle nous place face a nous-même dans une société ou on se documente, cette insistance qu'on a à se dévoiler devant la caméra comme une œuvre d'art, un acte qui n'est plus juste le thème des artistes, mais qui s'est démocratisé car nous sommes tous concernés, un acte qui peut aussi être dangereux. Elle parle de sa préférence à regarder les concerts de ses propres yeux et non à travers un écran, cette volonté qu'on a vouloir être partout à la fois et partager notre expérience personnelle avec le monde entier. Un exemple qui l'humanise car on comprend tout à fait ce qu'elle veut dire et on se reconnait dans ce qu'elle dit. Pour ma part je découvre Agnes Obel autrement que comme un ange inaccessible, mais comme une personne totalement connectes.
Journalist: What were your feelings at the end of the tour?
IT was good, I felt like it had become better and better musically while we were touring
I was not satisfied in the feeling cos I had certain ideas how to sound but I felt good. I ended up in Australia, it was cool, first time we ended up playing in Australia. We had very nice venues, and it was sold out, I don’t think Perth but Melbourne, Sydney. Sydney it was incredible to go so far away, and big theatres, people knew songs, it was not the same songs they responded to like in Germany, it was a very big experience for me, very wonderful, I have to say, I really love Australia but too far away, I could have lived there it was too far away. I loved the way the tour ended , Musically, I was more happy with the songs, we got better and better, it’s always like that with me, because it takes me a very long time to figure out how to play it live because it is not recorded for live concerts. We had to find all sorts of ways, at the moment we are finding ways just with the sound, with the sound engineer to understand how to make it , it’s not like drums and bass boum boum boum, some sounds and the vocals have to sound like that, you know..cos I mix it myself, I have very clear ideas how I want it….I have trouble making When I heard the recording of the live of the album I was horrified, so I have a lot to do now to get it close to the album, you know.
2. This new album, it’s a big challenge to play it live, the biggest challenge
Totally, it’s so difficult, to get across what s it’s about, lots of this music is about the sounds and the production, so I’m very dependent on the sound engineer to understand this, and the musicians, but that I THINK I HAVE, they’re very good, I’m very happy with that ,they’re very good I have chosen them, not because they’re just good musicians, they all have this extra sensibility for understanding the songs, what’s it’s all about, some people you know, you can feel it, you know, these senses, this little extra..
3. But do you have to explain to the musicians what kinds of feeling?
Yes well it’s a little bit (hesitant) It’s a little bit about what s it’s about…(hesitant),like..it’s gonna really be hard to come through, like.. both cellists have been part of the recording the album, they really know what it is, and it seems that Catherine really understands totally, so this is not the problem for me, me it’s not the problem for me, me it’s more the engineering thing, because.. it’s my sound, some songs are almost all vocals and how to balance that, all these things affect the whole experience of the song, and this for a sound engineer it’s not that at all, I just turn it up bob bob bob bob bob and for me you know it’s not….(laughs)
4. You play everywhere, in some some clubs with a wonderful acoustics, some festivals, rock concerts in the UK or even in Belgium…Do you feel comfortable to play your music in these kinds of extreme?
Yes. It’s very much my ambition to do that, I wanna play in different places, I don’t want to be put away in some nice perfectly acoustic…
Also I want to be on low amplifiers, not big PA systems. The size of venues I play is also the size of venues I prefer to go to concerts to myself. So I’m very happy with the size of the shows. Sometimes when it gets bigger It gets too far away for my taste and sometimes smaller the PA is not powerful enough.…
and it goes across the show, it comes without cellos, like “ oh it’s gonna be …“ yes that’s really cool..(laughs)
5. On this new album there is your voice of course, the piano, but a lot of different instruments, many keyboards, melotrum, the old vintage synthetiser, Trautonom is it yours? “yes it’s mine, I bought it”
6. You collected these instruments especially for this album?
“Yes”
7.“can you explain to me why?”
Because I knew the theme of this album was hum..(hesitant) could not be hum (hesitant) it was not enough for the piano and the cello just, so I needed something that sound like glass, but also metallic, and also sometimes percussive.. I like things that sound old and new at the same time, so I wanted to see if I could find that, and also.. I had some special sounds in my mind and I just had to find some other sounds to make a combination of more instruments at the same time so like sillet, spinet, and Piano, or piano on the top of each other, like tototototototot on “ Familiar” So I just knew that, new sounds to get the state of mind I had images in my head, you know?
8. Do you like this idea of this new album like a concept album?
Yes, I do, because for me, I don’t know how other people do it (laughs) but for me I did it my way, I had this idea of what it was to be made of glass, the feeling of being watched by others from afar, and watching yourself from afar, this feeling I know, and also the fragility of glass, feeling that it could potentially break but also in a way that it’s strong, and also I feel that we are living in times of glass, we watch everything through these glass screens, you know, and we are pushed to expose ourselves in a way, document ourselves, I felt that it really resonated with me this glass theme, and I wanted to see if I could make an album coming from one theme and seeing it from different perspectives, and also the instruments, the way I was singing, the production, the arrangement and the mixing was also feeling with the glass, with my glass, like I was making a movie! That’s how I saw it.
9. This concept of citizen of glass, this concept of transparency, the loss of privacy, do you think that there is a sense of emergency just to create an album about these different themes?
I do think we are experiencing something profoundly different in the way we see ourselves. I think our new media reality is changing the way we perceive ourselves and understand who we are. In a way, this thing of documenting yourselves and using yourselves as material, looking at your life as an artwork or an object like, has always been specific to artists, but in a way everybody is now like that/ I can have an audience, I can stage my life, it’s interesting from a democratic perspective, everybody can do it, have that sort of reflexion about themselves but I also think it is dangerous if it takes you away from the moment you enjoy, and I think we have to be aware that there is different ways of being present, especially kids you know, It’s important not always to film and document and look at yourself as something that others look at. It’s nice to be in it without having that experience.. Just like, I like to go to a concert and not film the whole thing, I want to experience it myself you know.. you are living through a screen and you’re also thinking about this other place where it’s gonna be watched, and these other people who’re gonna look, it’s like removing or being in different places at the same time, you know..it’s not good always, it’s fine sometimes.
http://www.rtbf.be/lapremiere/article_interview-exclusive-d-agnes-obel?id=9435294&category=ENTREZ%20SANS%20FRAPPER&programId=8521&sourceTitle=Entrez+sans+frapper&programType=emission
Dans cet interview Agnes Obel nous parle de ses impressions du live avec cet album, des instruments utilisés, de sa technique d'enregistrement, et le concept de l'album, le verre. Elle nous place face a nous-même dans une société ou on se documente, cette insistance qu'on a à se dévoiler devant la caméra comme une œuvre d'art, un acte qui n'est plus juste le thème des artistes, mais qui s'est démocratisé car nous sommes tous concernés, un acte qui peut aussi être dangereux. Elle parle de sa préférence à regarder les concerts de ses propres yeux et non à travers un écran, cette volonté qu'on a vouloir être partout à la fois et partager notre expérience personnelle avec le monde entier. Un exemple qui l'humanise car on comprend tout à fait ce qu'elle veut dire et on se reconnait dans ce qu'elle dit. Pour ma part je découvre Agnes Obel autrement que comme un ange inaccessible, mais comme une personne totalement connectes.
Journalist: What were your feelings at the end of the tour?
IT was good, I felt like it had become better and better musically while we were touring
I was not satisfied in the feeling cos I had certain ideas how to sound but I felt good. I ended up in Australia, it was cool, first time we ended up playing in Australia. We had very nice venues, and it was sold out, I don’t think Perth but Melbourne, Sydney. Sydney it was incredible to go so far away, and big theatres, people knew songs, it was not the same songs they responded to like in Germany, it was a very big experience for me, very wonderful, I have to say, I really love Australia but too far away, I could have lived there it was too far away. I loved the way the tour ended , Musically, I was more happy with the songs, we got better and better, it’s always like that with me, because it takes me a very long time to figure out how to play it live because it is not recorded for live concerts. We had to find all sorts of ways, at the moment we are finding ways just with the sound, with the sound engineer to understand how to make it , it’s not like drums and bass boum boum boum, some sounds and the vocals have to sound like that, you know..cos I mix it myself, I have very clear ideas how I want it….I have trouble making When I heard the recording of the live of the album I was horrified, so I have a lot to do now to get it close to the album, you know.
2. This new album, it’s a big challenge to play it live, the biggest challenge
Totally, it’s so difficult, to get across what s it’s about, lots of this music is about the sounds and the production, so I’m very dependent on the sound engineer to understand this, and the musicians, but that I THINK I HAVE, they’re very good, I’m very happy with that ,they’re very good I have chosen them, not because they’re just good musicians, they all have this extra sensibility for understanding the songs, what’s it’s all about, some people you know, you can feel it, you know, these senses, this little extra..
3. But do you have to explain to the musicians what kinds of feeling?
Yes well it’s a little bit (hesitant) It’s a little bit about what s it’s about…(hesitant),like..it’s gonna really be hard to come through, like.. both cellists have been part of the recording the album, they really know what it is, and it seems that Catherine really understands totally, so this is not the problem for me, me it’s not the problem for me, me it’s more the engineering thing, because.. it’s my sound, some songs are almost all vocals and how to balance that, all these things affect the whole experience of the song, and this for a sound engineer it’s not that at all, I just turn it up bob bob bob bob bob and for me you know it’s not….(laughs)
4. You play everywhere, in some some clubs with a wonderful acoustics, some festivals, rock concerts in the UK or even in Belgium…Do you feel comfortable to play your music in these kinds of extreme?
Yes. It’s very much my ambition to do that, I wanna play in different places, I don’t want to be put away in some nice perfectly acoustic…
Also I want to be on low amplifiers, not big PA systems. The size of venues I play is also the size of venues I prefer to go to concerts to myself. So I’m very happy with the size of the shows. Sometimes when it gets bigger It gets too far away for my taste and sometimes smaller the PA is not powerful enough.…
and it goes across the show, it comes without cellos, like “ oh it’s gonna be …“ yes that’s really cool..(laughs)
5. On this new album there is your voice of course, the piano, but a lot of different instruments, many keyboards, melotrum, the old vintage synthetiser, Trautonom is it yours? “yes it’s mine, I bought it”
6. You collected these instruments especially for this album?
“Yes”
7.“can you explain to me why?”
Because I knew the theme of this album was hum..(hesitant) could not be hum (hesitant) it was not enough for the piano and the cello just, so I needed something that sound like glass, but also metallic, and also sometimes percussive.. I like things that sound old and new at the same time, so I wanted to see if I could find that, and also.. I had some special sounds in my mind and I just had to find some other sounds to make a combination of more instruments at the same time so like sillet, spinet, and Piano, or piano on the top of each other, like tototototototot on “ Familiar” So I just knew that, new sounds to get the state of mind I had images in my head, you know?
8. Do you like this idea of this new album like a concept album?
Yes, I do, because for me, I don’t know how other people do it (laughs) but for me I did it my way, I had this idea of what it was to be made of glass, the feeling of being watched by others from afar, and watching yourself from afar, this feeling I know, and also the fragility of glass, feeling that it could potentially break but also in a way that it’s strong, and also I feel that we are living in times of glass, we watch everything through these glass screens, you know, and we are pushed to expose ourselves in a way, document ourselves, I felt that it really resonated with me this glass theme, and I wanted to see if I could make an album coming from one theme and seeing it from different perspectives, and also the instruments, the way I was singing, the production, the arrangement and the mixing was also feeling with the glass, with my glass, like I was making a movie! That’s how I saw it.
9. This concept of citizen of glass, this concept of transparency, the loss of privacy, do you think that there is a sense of emergency just to create an album about these different themes?
I do think we are experiencing something profoundly different in the way we see ourselves. I think our new media reality is changing the way we perceive ourselves and understand who we are. In a way, this thing of documenting yourselves and using yourselves as material, looking at your life as an artwork or an object like, has always been specific to artists, but in a way everybody is now like that/ I can have an audience, I can stage my life, it’s interesting from a democratic perspective, everybody can do it, have that sort of reflexion about themselves but I also think it is dangerous if it takes you away from the moment you enjoy, and I think we have to be aware that there is different ways of being present, especially kids you know, It’s important not always to film and document and look at yourself as something that others look at. It’s nice to be in it without having that experience.. Just like, I like to go to a concert and not film the whole thing, I want to experience it myself you know.. you are living through a screen and you’re also thinking about this other place where it’s gonna be watched, and these other people who’re gonna look, it’s like removing or being in different places at the same time, you know..it’s not good always, it’s fine sometimes.
