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Myopia (Agnes Obel album)

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Myopia
Studio album by
Agnes Obel
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

Myopia is the fourth studio 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".

Background

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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

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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

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?6.9/10[4]
Metacritic74/100[5]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[6]
Financial Times[7]
The Independent[8]
musicOMH[9]
No Ripcord7/10[10]
PopMatters[11]
Pitchfork7.1/10[12]
Tom Hull – on the WebB+ ((2-star Honorable Mention)(2-star Honorable Mention))[13]

Myopia was met with generally positive reviews.[5] The Independent reviewer Elisa Bray described it as "an album to experience alone, and there's a comfort to being pulled into Myopia's contemplative, isolating territory".[8] Michael Sumsion from PopMatters said Obel's "ethereal and ornate sound channels" traditional forms of jazz, classical, and folk music through "crepuscular flecks of art-pop, trip-hop, and electronica to dazzling effect".[11] Similarly, Pitchfork's Ashley Bardhan applauded the record's "ghostly, moody chamber pop" as "a new peak for her lush melancholy".[12] Less enthusiastic was Financial Times critic Ludovic Hunter-Tilney, who found Obel's "pensive nocturnes" admirable but lamented how "the music rarely changes tempo" and "could do with more drama, less gracefulness".[7]

Track listing

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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

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Weekly charts

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Weekly chart performance for Myopia
Chart (2020) Peak
position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[14] 19
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[15] 11
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[16] 6
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[17] 11
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[18] 15
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[19] 9
Polish Albums (ZPAV)[20] 39
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[21] 33
Scottish Albums (OCC)[22] 15
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[23] 33
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[24] 5
UK Albums (OCC)[25] 34

Year-end charts

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Year-end chart performance for Myopia
Chart (2020) Position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[26] 186

References

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  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. ^ a b "Myopia by Agnes Obel Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  6. ^ "Myopia - Agnes Obel". AllMusic. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  7. ^ a b Hunter-Tilney, Ludovic (18 February 2020). "Agnes Obel: Myopia — pensive and sorrowful". Financial Times. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
  8. ^ a b "Agnes Obel review – Myopia: New album inhabits a desolate place of twilight solitude". The Independent. 21 February 2020. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  9. ^ Johnson, Steven (20 February 2020). "Agnes Obel – Myopia". musicOMH. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  10. ^ Edgardo Rodriguez, Juan (24 February 2020). "Agnes Obel: Myopia - Music Review". No Ripcord. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  11. ^ a b Sumsion, Michael (16 March 2020). "Agnes Obel's Chamber Pop Hits a New Peak on 'Myopia'". PopMatters. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  12. ^ a b Bardhan, Ashley (26 February 2020). "Agnes Obel: Myopia Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  13. ^ Hull, Tom (9 March 2020). "Music Week". Tom Hull - on the Web. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
  14. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Agnes Obel – Myopia" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  15. ^ "Ultratop.be – Agnes Obel – Myopia" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  16. ^ "Ultratop.be – Agnes Obel – Myopia" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  17. ^ "Hitlisten.NU – Album Top-40 Uge 8, 2020". Hitlisten. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  18. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Agnes Obel – Myopia" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  19. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Agnes Obel – Myopia" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  20. ^ "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLiS - Official Retail Sales Chart". OLiS. Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  21. ^ "Portuguesecharts.com – Agnes Obel – Myopia". Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  22. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  23. ^ "Top 100 Albumes – Semana 9: del 21.2.2020 al 27.2.2020" (in Spanish). Productores de Música de España. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  24. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Agnes Obel – Myopia". Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  25. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  26. ^ "Rapports Annuels 2020". Ultratop. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
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