‘Citizen Of Glass’ is the new album from Agnes Obel, released October 21 on Play It Again Sam.
‘Citizen Of Glass’ is the follow-up to Obel’s UK breakthrough album ‘Aventine’, which yielded the 6Music playlisted singles ‘Dorian’, ‘Words Are Dead’, and title track ‘Aventine’, and saw the Berlin-based Dane headline gigs at Somerset House, Shepherd’s Bush Empire and Barbican in 2014.
‘Citizen Of Glass’ was recorded, produced and mixed by Obel at Aventine-Neukölln and BrandNewMusic-Studios in Berlin.
“The title comes from the German concept of the gläserner bürger, the human or glass citizen,” says Obel. “It’s actually a legal term about the level of privacy the individual has in a state, and in health it’s become a term about how much we know about a person’s body or biology or history - if they’re completely made of glass we know everything. There’s an increasing sense in this world that you have to make yourself a bit of glass. To be willing to open up, use yourself as material, and not just if you’re an artist or a musician.”
“I worked with the title from the very beginning to push myself to do new things,” she continues. “I wanted to push myself conceptually from the starting point, to push the glass theme throughout the songs in different ways – in the lyrics, in the instruments - to do things in a very new way. As an album, it feels bigger to me, a lot bigger.”
‘Citizen Of Glass’ will be available as a Digital Download, CD with lyric booklet, and on 180g black vinyl LP + download code in a gatefold sleeve. The album is available to pre-order now from www.agnesobel.com
Established as a major star across Europe, Agnes Obel has sold over a million copies of her first two albums, Philharmonics (2010) and Aventine (2013), and her songs have been streamed over 250 million times. She will embark on an extensive European tour in October.
European Tour 2016
Oct 29: New Fall Festival, Johanneskirche, Dusseldorf Germany
Oct 30: New Fall Festival, Liderhalle Mozart-Saal, Stuttgart Germany
Nov 01: Den Atelier, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Nov 02: Ancienne Belgique, Brussels, Belgium
Nov 03: Paradiso, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Nov 06: Falconer, Copenhagen, Denmark
Nov 08: Rockefeller, Oslo, Norway
Nov 09: Kagelbanan, Stockholm, Sweden
Nov 11: Stary Manez, Gdansk, Poland
Nov 12: Stodola, Warsaw, Poland
Nov 14: Admiralspalast, Berlin, Germany
Nov 15: Theaterfabrik, Munich, Germany
Nov 17: Volkhaus, Zurich, Switzerland
Nov 18: Salle Metropole, Lausanne, Switzerland
Nov 20: Amphi, Lyon, France
Nov 21: Cite De Congres, Nantes, France
Nov 22: Casino De Paris, Paris, France
Nov 24: Colisee, Lille, France
Nov 26: Anson Rooms, Bristol, UK
Nov 27: Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London, UK
Nov 29: Town Hall, Birmingham, UK
Nov 30: Albert Hall, Manchester, UK
Dec 01: Vicar Street, Dublin, Ireland
Peek-A-Boo is of course also available as a paper magazine. We proudly present the 22nd issue which is available for free at the Belgian alternative record shops and all the venues, or when you order something at InfraRot.
If you live somewhere else, you can always
- subscribe to receive a hardcopy version @ your home
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- download or read the PDF-version here.
Our newest issue features interviews with AD VITAM, COMBICHRIST, CRESTFALLEN, DAGEIST, DIEGO BITTENCOURT (N3VOA), EXPONENTIA, FACTICE FACTORY, HIDDEN IN TREETOPS, JOHAN TROCH, LUPI GLADIUS, ORDO ROSARIUS EQUILIBRIO, OST+FRONT, PROJECT PITCHFORK, PSY'AVIAH, SHIV-R and THE JUGGERNAUTS
Reviews of AMNISTIA, AXIOME , COMBICHRIST , EMPUSAE + KLANKDAL , FILTER , HONEYMOON COWBOYS , INVOKE THE INSULT , LA MUERTE, LORD OF THE LOST , MONOLITH, NACHTMAHR, NOTHING BUT NOISE VS PROTHESE , ONMENS , ORDO ROSARIUS EQUILIBRIO, PSY'AVIAH , SAIGON BLUE RAIN, SONIC AREA, TEHO TEARDO & BLIXA BARGELD , THE ARCH, THE JUGGERNAUTS, UNIDENTIFIED MAN and WIELORYB.
Black Needle Noise, the brand new project by legendary John Fryer who was involved in This Mortal Coil and many other 4-AD bands, has a brand new song to offer (and for free).
Behind The 4th Door is a collaboration between John Frye rand Elena Alice Fossi of Kirlian Camera.
Click below to hear this pop gem.
Nearly one year since the release of Edge of the World, the internationally acclaimed independent album by Nashville-based industrial synthpop duo The Sweetest Condition, the band has released its new music video for the song “Watch You Fall”.
Filmed throughout Tennessee over several months, the music video features footage of vocalist and lyricist Leslie Irene Benson and synth-player/guitarist Jason Reed Milner. “Watch You Fall” is where it all began for The Sweetest Condition—a bittersweet, anti-love song ignited from the ashes of their former music project, Irene & Reed. “Watch You Fall” helped launch The Sweetest Condition as a full-fledged music project in 2012, eventually making its way onto their debut LP in 2015.
“‘Watch You Fall’ blends pulsating synths and guitars, building intensity in a ritualistic, drunken dance celebrating karmic revenge,”
Benson says. “Our music represents the chasm between love and lust. It’s the innocence of your first crush—that churning, all-consuming infatuation—and the violent obsession and toxic codependency born from bad decisions. Some joy, some pain.”
“Watch You Fall” was the first track written and recorded by The Sweetest Condition, an opportunity that allowed the artists to return to their darker music roots. It remains a quintessential track from the debut album, and it continues to receive regular airplay on podcasts and radio programs around the world.
As the band winds down its yearlong promotion for Edge of the World, the artists are preparing for their second full-length album release, We Defy Oblivion, later in 2016. The new album will be self-released on Bandcamp (https://thesweetestcondition.bandcamp.com) and other digital music retailers.
Lisa Hannigan has shared the beautiful video for ‘Fall’, the first single from her forthcoming third album ‘At Swim’ (released on August 19th via Play It Again Sam recordings). Produced by Aaron Dessner, ‘At Swim’ follows the double-platinum, Mercury-nominated debut ‘Sea Sew’, and 2011’s ‘Passenger’ (which charted at number 1 in Ireland, and earned Lisa another Choice Music Prize nomination). An intimate, 16-date European tour in support of ‘At Swim’ is on sale now.
Introducing the video, ‘Fall’ director Harvey Pearson writes: “we wanted to explore the idea of overcoming something, whether that was physical or mental. We decided that a forest was the perfect location to denote this idea of a ‘crowded mind’. Throughout the video we see Lisa’s abstract movements, which is something which we worked hard on with choreographer Supple Nam, to try and further the concept of fighting against your own mind - the idea of her being possessed by something. The whole video is a progression, something moving in, attacking, and then Lisa slowly overcoming it and it retreating. We tried to show that through every aspect of the video - the dance, the cinematography and of course, the edit - it's all about that progression."
‘Fall’ is the second offering from Lisa’s third – and arguably most bewitching – album, ‘At Swim’. After playing in support of ‘Passenger’ for nearly two years, she struggled at first to write new material: a new relationship meant that she was dividing her time between Dublin and London, and so adrift and lost, she threw herself into distraction instead. There was an acting debut as a mermaid in the Oscar-nominated animation ‘Song of the Sea’, soundtrack work on ‘Fargo’ and the Oscar-winning score for ‘Gravity’, all the while founding and co-hosting the acclaimed ‘Soundings’ podcast (which saw Lisa turn interviewer, and speak to guests such as Harry Shearer, Sharon Horgan and David Arnold).
The breakthrough came when Hannigan got an email out of the blue from Aaron Dessner, guitarist with The National and producer for the likes of Sharon Van Etten and Local Natives. Taking up Dessner’s suggestion to work together and rediscovering the collaborative spirit she'd missed in Dublin enabled Lisa to see her time in London in a different light. So while ‘At Swim’ is in part about homesickness and isolation, it's also – profoundly and very movingly – about love.
Having first exchanged ideas over email and iPhones, ‘At Swim’ surfaced when Lisa and Aaron finally met up in Denmark: recording then took place in a church in Hudson, New York, during a furiously-creative seven-day stint. Despite openly being written lost-at-sea, you sense that at this point in her career, Lisa Hannigan is now a strong enough swimmer to go as far out as she wants; to darker depths than before, where the treasure lies, and bring it back to us.
European Tour – On Sale July 1st, 9AM
October 13 | Cardiff | The Tramshed
October 14 | Brighton | The Old Market
October 16 | Oxford | 02 Academy
October 17 | Bristol | Thekla
October 19 | Glasgow | Oran Mor
October 20 | Salford | St Philip’s Church
October 21 | Liverpool | Arts Club
October 22 | Leeds | Brudenell Social Club
October 24 | London | Islington Assembly Hall
October 25 | Birmingham | Glee Club
October 26 | Leicester | 02 Academy
October 28 | Leuven | Hot Depot
October 29 | Zurich | Plaza
October 30 | Milan | Fabrique Milano
November 1 | Berlin | Admiralspalast
November 2 | Cologne | Studio 672
November 3 | Paris | Le Flow
November 4 | Netherlands | Den Haag
