Aventine
Obel’s 2010 award-winning debut, *Philharmonics*, was a delicate, simply constructed set of songs that evinced the singer/songwriter’s classical training and tasteful restraint. The Danish songwriter’s second full-length album, *Aventine*, has an even more captivating and hushed intimacy. Much of *Aventine* floats along with a hazy sense of melancholy, accompanied by Obel’s solo piano or a small chamber ensemble. Songs like “Fuel to Fire” and “The Curse” use the sparest of elements for haunting results. The evocative highlights are many, but “Smoke & Mirrors” is utterly disarming.
The 'mournful sternness' of the Danish singer-songwriter's second album of ethereal piano music impresses <strong>Kitty Empire</strong>
Three years after her debut made her a star, Obel returns with some exquisite arrangements of string and piano, writes <strong>Caroline Sullivan</strong>