Agnes Obel’s The Meaning of Flowers Explores Interconnection Experienced During Pregnancy

Deutsche Grammophon is delighted to announce that The Meaning of Flowers, Agnes Obel's first studio album since Myopia (2020), is out now in all formats. On The Meaning of Flowers Obel explores the vivid sense of interconnection with all living things she experienced during pregnancy, finding inspiration in ideas about birth, growth and metamorphosis in the world around us, among other themes. Her 12 atmospheric tracks draw on a range of sources, from the poetry of Enheduanna (the world's first named author) and the philosophical writings of Hannah Arendt and Emanuele Coccia, to the Danish pop scene of the 80s and 90s. The album is dedicated to Obel's daughter: "she who has changed me and raised me and taught me so much".

Written, recorded, arranged and produced by the artist in her Berlin studio, The Meaning of Flowers features Obel herself on vocals (some pitch-shifted), piano, keys, synths and samples, with guest musicians adding violin, viola, cello, bass, lap steel, harmonium, flute, sax, percussion and backing vocals to the mix.

"The Meaning of Flowers" was the first track written for the album. Its title came from Obel's reading of Coccia's The Life of Plants and Metamorphoses. As she said in a recent interview, "Flowers are these tiny things that exist within an insanely huge and complex planet of mountains and oceans, but they also have their own hyper-complex biology ... So, for me, the song had to be something small and beautiful, but enormous at the same time, in the title at least."

Blood so Red, about the primal experience of giving birth, was influenced by Enheduanna's hymns to Inanna – goddess of childbirth, love, sex, song and war. Gemini and Laymelli too were inspired by Enheduanna, but also by Obel's awareness of a complex universe "held together by the beauty and power of life and metamorphosis", again based on ideas discussed by Coccia.

The other influences on the album include 70s movie scores (Don't Look Down) and Danish pop (Never Been), while its only instrumental track (Tangerine) features sax arpeggios, celesta and piano, their upbeat combination of sounds forming a "bubbly new wondrous friendship".