Agnes Obel’s Haunting Chamber Pop | Mother Jones

Alex Bruel Flagstad Agnes Obel

Citizen of Glass
Play it Again Sam

Agnes Obel’s music would be the perfect soundtrack for a scary movie, but not a brutish modern one—her haunting chamber pop belongs in the world of old-fashioned spooky films like the 1940s classics “Cat People” and “The Uninvited.” (David Lynch is reportedly a fan, which makes sense.)

Citizen of Glass, the Danish singer’s wonderfully transfixing third outing, weaves old and new instruments, including strings, piano, mellotron and the Trautonium, an early 20th-century ancestor of the synthesizer, into a luminous backdrop for her eerily composed vocals. Poised and uneasy at once, Obel seems to be revisiting episodes of extreme distress from a distance, as if seeking to dull the trauma through calm reflection. As she declares in “It’s Happening Again,” “The past isn’t dead/It’s alive, it’s happening/In the back of my head.” The result is a beautiful album likely to soothe the dark night of the soul, or induce an anxiety attack.

Source: Agnes Obel’s Haunting Chamber Pop | Mother Jones

Paris tries to woo tourists back with better English skills and a more friendly state of emergemcy

Speaking to Journal du Dimanche, she said: “We are going through an extremely difficult period, marked by terrorist attacks and extreme weather conditions.”But all is not perdu (lost).

After trips to Tokyo, New York and Boston to discuss the city’s malaise with high-level tourism professionals, Pécresse has come up with a six-point plan to woo foreign visitors back to the French capital.The plan will focus on three main areas: hospitality, quality of service and security.

READ FULL STORY at Source: Paris tries to woo tourists back with better English skills and a more friendly state of emergemcy

Andy Steves’ Tips for Exploring the Best of Europe on a Budget

Travel writer and entrepreneur Andy Steves published his most recent guidebook, “Andy Steves’ Europe: City-Hopping on a Budget,” this summer to help travelers tap into the top hidden gems and budget-friendly stops across 13 popular European cities.As the son of famed travel writer Rick Steves, Andy visited Europe every year growing up. He developed a knack for finding local favorites, and eventually created his own company, Weekend Student Adventures, which plans trips for students studying abroad in Europe.

READ FULL STORY at Source: Andy Steves’ Tips for Exploring the Best of Europe on a Budget | Travel + Leisure

Paris tourism workers to get English lessons

One of the proposals, which is sure to be music to Anglophone ears, is the introduction of training sessions to teach basic English to those working in the tourism sector, including bus and taxi drivers as well as staff at museums, hotels and restaurants.

Another measure to facilitate tourism is the planned creation of a CityPass, which will serve both as a ticket on public transport and for entry into popular tourist attractions. READ FULL STORY at Source: Paris tourism workers to get English lessons – The Local