Aventine (album)
| Aventine | ||||
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| Studio album by Agnes Obel | ||||
| Released | 30 September 2013 | |||
| Recorded | 2012–2013 (Berlin, Germany) |
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| Genre | ||||
| Length | 40:56 | |||
| Label | PIAS | |||
| Producer | Agnes Obel | |||
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| Singles from Aventine | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 74/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| The Guardian |   |
| Mojo | |
| musicOMH | |
| Q | |
| The Quietus | Very Favourable |
| Uncut |
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Aventine is the second studio album by Danish singer-songwriter Agnes Obel, released on 30 September 2013 by PIAS Recordings. The album received positive reviews from music critics. It was also a commercial success, charting inside the top 40 of the charts in nine countries.
The album was announced in June 2013. The album was written, produced, arranged, and mixed by Obel herself at Chalk Wood Studios from 2012 to 2013. In January 2013, the album was given its final mixdown. The album features the instrumentation of Timber Timbre musician Mika Posen.
On Aventine, Agnes Obel commented : "I recorded everything quite closely, miking everything closely in a small room, with voices here, the piano here - everything is close to you. So it's sparse, but by varying the dynamic range of the songs I could create almost soundscapes. I was able to make something feel big with just these few instruments."
To promote the album, Obel streamed Aventine online. On 4 September, Obel performed the album live at St Pancras Old Church for a select group of UK journalists and music industry members. On 17 September, Obel opened for Ludovico Einaudi at the iTunes Festival and her performance was recorded and released as an EP titled iTunes Festival: London 2013. In October, Obel appeared on France 24 to discuss the album.
The album was preceded by the single "The Curse" in August 2013 with the music video being directed by Alex Brüel Flagstad. Obel recorded a live version of the song in Berlin for KCRW.
Aventine received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 74, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", based on 10 reviews.
James Skinner, in The Quietus, writes : "Ultimately, Aventine is a triumph of carefully sustained mood; of a sadness that is not so much overbearing as it beautiful, and one that lingers in the silences between listens of this unusual, unusually compelling record."
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Wikipedia