“This song was, surprisingly enough, written in a period where I was struggling with falling asleep. In the effort to find a cure I began to read about the science of sleep as well as the cultural history of sleep which led me to the ancient idea that sleep and death are familiar states and problems with sleep are linked to a fear of death.

Relics of this idea are still to be found in our language today, in the way we describe both death and sleep.” – Obel.

07 JANUARY 2020 (TORONTO, ON) - For almost a decade, Agnes Obel has been one of the most independent and original artists in contemporary music. Now Obel has returned with new music, releasing the enchanting single "Island of Doom", ahead of the release of her highly anticipated new album ‘Myopia’ – released through Deutsche Grammophon, Universal Music Group’s prestigious Yellow Label, and Blue Note/Universal Music Canada in North America, out on February 21st 2020.

“For me Myopia is an album about trust and doubt. Can you trust yourself or not? Can you trust your own judgments? Can you trust that you will do the right thing? Can you trust your instincts and what you are feeling? Or are your feelings skewed?” - Obel.

PRE-ORDER NOW BELOW

Following the same principles as her previous albums (Philharmonics, Aventine and Citizen Of Glass), which Obel completed as a one-woman project in her own Berlin home studio). Obel has been under self-imposed creative isolation with the removal of all outside influences and distraction in the writing, recording and mixing process. “The albums I’ve worked on have all required that I build a bubble of some kind in which everything becomes about the album.”

“For me the production is intertwined with the lyrics and story behind the songs” says Obel. This is precisely what makes her music so compelling and the same is true with Myopia “Paradoxically, for me I need to create my own myopia to make music.”

Obel was experimenting with techniques of recording processing, warping and pitching down vocals, strings, piano, celesta and lutheal piano. Finding ways to melt these elements together to become one and twisting them in a way that you feel at home within the sound Obel conjures throughout the record.

The official music video to accompany Broken Sleep – is also released today (WATCH BELOW).

Created by long-term collaborator and partner Alex Brüel Flagstad, the video accompanies the themes within the album perfectly and continuously follows on from the Island Of Doom video, released in October 2019.

Agnes Obel will be playing shows across Europe and North America in 2020. More touring to be announced soon…

Tickets for all shows are on-sale now BELOW.

Agnes Obel 2020 Canadian Tour Dates
Apr 23: Montreal, QC, Maison Symphonique
Apr 26: Toronto, ON, Meridian Hall (with Dead Can Dance)
May 04: Vancouver, BC, Orpheum Theatre (with Dead Can Dance)