Agnes Caroline Thaarup Obel (born 28 October 1980 in Gentofte, Copenhagen) is a Danish singer/songwriter. Her first album, Philharmonics, was released by PIAS Recordings on 4 October 2010 in Europe, most notably Denmark, Norway, and Germany. Philharmonics was certified gold in June 2011 by the Belgian Entertainment Association (BEA) for sales of 10,000 units. At the Danish Music Awards in November 2011, Agnes Obel won five prizes: Best Album Of The Year, Best Pop Release Of The Year, Best Debut Artist Of The Year, Best Female Artist Of The Year and Best Songwriter Of The Year.
With 'Philharmonics,' I had to do a lot of interviews, and it was like I was corrupting something. In many ways, I've said everything in the song. And either I can't go back to what it was because it's changing when I play it, or I still haven't figured out what the song is about.
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What I discovered in Berlin was this immense freedom because it felt like you could start any kind of project and nobody would care... and that's what I sort of adopted to my own.
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I used to get very nervous before a concert. It's okay when you are in a band. You can kind of disappear. But when it's just you... yes, that was difficult. I would not say it is easy now. But when you do it for a long time, you do learn to cope.
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Everything that has a spare piano is 'like Satie' and everything with strings is 'filmic,' Sometimes I get annoyed when they say my stuff sounds 'like Satie'. No, it doesn't. At least, I don't think so.
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I have a difficult relationship with jazz. My parents really love it, and I went to a school where jazz was considered the best thing ever, so I had to leave it be for a long time. But now I'm rediscovering it. I'm approaching jazz in a different way.
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The orchestral or symphonic music never interested me.
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When I was in bands, I always liked the demo best.
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It's always difficult to know if a song needs more than piano, and I worry about my tendency to go in a sparse direction.
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I'm not into having a pedigree dog.
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I wish my parents had been more strict and made me learn more instruments.
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My mum is a big collector of art.
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My parents were very relaxed about music.
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I don't have a classical-music mentality. I haven't been taught that way, and it doesn't fit my character, either.
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I'm very happy that I got introduced to music only as something you got pleasure from.
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I don't have a daily routine at all.
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I've heard from other artists that people are a little bit more reserved in Northern Europe, which comes across at concerts, where the audience may be quieter. So this means less hecklers, but maybe it also means that people may not be as open about how they felt. I'm not so sure this is especially true of Denmark, but it's what I've heard.
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The piano and the singing are two equal things to me - maybe not inseparable but very connected. You can say they are like two equal voices.
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I don't have the feeling of being motivated by anger, revenge or frustration.
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I love the conversation between film and music.
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Even though music is something I travel around doing, it is also a very private thing. A sort of escapism.
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Sometimes I feel like a melody doesn't have anything to do with me, but it's just something that comes, is accumulated from me playing on the piano, and then this little creature just appears.
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I learned that music should be fun and should be a way to express yourself - that there aren't really any rules.
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I really believe it's not bad to look back within music. I don't mean retro, but using your own memories to make a song because our memories are what make us who we are.
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The best thing about Berlin was that I got to be surrounded by people who pursue their ideas for themselves.
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I love Denmark. But it is a very safe place, and it is easy to let the state look after everything for you.
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Feelings such as loneliness, longing or love are sometimes hard to put into words; maybe that's why we all love music, because it resonates with something we can't share.
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When I started working on my own music, I didn't have the chance to record in a big music studio, so I had to record everything myself.
Soundtrack
Title
Year
Status
Character
How to Get Away with Murder
2016
TV Series performer - 1 episode
Our Girl
2014
TV Series performer - 2 episodes
October Gale
2014
performer: "Close Watch"
Pretty Little Liars
TV Series performer - 1 episode, 2014 writer - 1 episode, 2014
TURN: Washington's Spies
2014
TV Series performer - 1 episode
The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz
2014
Documentary performer: "Fuel To The Fire" / writer: "Fuel To The Fire"
$13 Million
