Myopia (Agnes Obel album)

Myopia is the fourth album by Danish singer-songwriter Agnes Obel. It was released on 21 February 2020 by production studio Strange Harvest Limited. Three tracks were released as singles prior to the main release: "Island of Doom", "Broken Sleep" and "Parliament of Owls".

Myopia
Studio album by
Released21 February 2020
Recorded2017–2020
Genre
Length39:50
LabelStrange Harvest Limited
Agnes Obel chronology
Late Night Tales: Agnes Obel
(2018)
Myopia
(2020)
Singles from Myopia
  1. "Island of Doom"
    Released: 29 October 2019
  2. "Broken Sleep"
    Released: 7 January 2020

Background

Obel explained the meaning of Myopia: "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?"[1]

Style

In the album, Obel puts a feeling of quiet and gentleness in her music, continuing on from the German concept of Gläserner Bürger, the "citizen of glass", which was the guiding concept of her previous album.[2] The album contains a new sense of solitude instrumentalism and vocals, as well as departing from her upbeat early albums.[3] Obel stated the album was sparked by a struggle to escape her “own tunnel vision”.

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?6.9/10[4]
Metacritic74/100[5]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[6]
The Independent[7]
musicOMH[8]
No Ripcord7/10[9]
PopMatters[10]
Pitchfork7.1/10[11]

The Independent has described it as "an album to experience alone, and there's a comfort to being pulled into Myopia's contemplative, isolating territory".[7]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Agnes Obel.

Myopia track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Camera's Rolling"4:44
2."Broken Sleep"4:55
3."Island of Doom"5:29
4."Roscian"2:17
5."Myopia"5:16
6."Drosera"2:27
7."Can't Be"3:26
8."Parliament of Owls"2:30
9."Promise Keeper"4:29
10."Won't You Call Me"4:17
Total length:39:50

Charts

Weekly charts

Weekly chart performance for Myopia
Chart (2020) Peak
position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[12] 19
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[13] 11
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[14] 6
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[15] 11
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[16] 15
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[17] 9
Polish Albums (ZPAV)[18] 39
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[19] 33
Scottish Albums (OCC)[20] 15
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[21] 33
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[22] 5
UK Albums (OCC)[23] 34

Year-end charts

Year-end chart performance for Myopia
Chart (2020) Position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[24] 186

References

  1. Gersten, Amanda (29 October 2019). "Agnes Obel Shares "Island of Doom," New Single/Video off Forthcoming Album Myopia". PASTE. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  2. Valiente, Ana. "Agnes Obel: the Danish singer made of glass and steel". Cafébabel. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
  3. The Independent - Agnes Obel review – Myopia: New album inhabits a desolate place of twilight solitude
  4. "Myopia by Agnes Obel reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  5. "Myopia by Agnes Obel Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  6. "Myopia - Agnes Obel". AllMusic. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  7. "Agnes Obel review – Myopia: New album inhabits a desolate place of twilight solitude". The Independent. 21 February 2020. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  8. Johnson, Steven (20 February 2020). "Agnes Obel – Myopia". musicOMH. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  9. Edgardo Rodriguez, Juan (24 February 2020). "Agnes Obel: Myopia - Music Review". No Ripcord. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  10. Sumsion, Michael (16 March 2020). "Agnes Obel's Chamber Pop Hits a New Peak on 'Myopia'". PopMatters. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  11. Bardhan, Ashley (26 February 2020). "Agnes Obel: Myopia Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  12. "Austriancharts.at – Agnes Obel – Myopia" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  13. "Ultratop.be – Agnes Obel – Myopia" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  14. "Ultratop.be – Agnes Obel – Myopia" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  15. "Hitlisten.NU – Album Top-40 Uge 8, 2020". Hitlisten. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  16. "Dutchcharts.nl – Agnes Obel – Myopia" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  17. "Offiziellecharts.de – Agnes Obel – Myopia" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  18. "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLiS - Official Retail Sales Chart". OLiS. Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  19. "Portuguesecharts.com – Agnes Obel – Myopia". Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  20. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  21. "Top 100 Albumes – Semana 9: del 21.2.2020 al 27.2.2020" (in Spanish). Productores de Música de España. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  22. "Swisscharts.com – Agnes Obel – Myopia". Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  23. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  24. "Rapports Annuels 2020". Ultratop. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.