Why Agnes Obel built 200 layers of strings on her song 'Familiar'

Danish singer-songwriter Agnes Obel took no shortcuts writing her song, "Familiar." 

The track, off her 2016 album Citizen of Glass, is a gorgeously haunting song about "the transformation of being in love," and its lush production is thanks to a laborious process of building layers. 

"I knew where I wanted to go but it wasn't that clear; I couldn't sit and write it down on a piece of paper," Obel explains. "There were many textures that I wanted and I could only get them when I had many layers of cello and violin on top of each other." 

So, she meticulously recorded, edited and re-recorded 200 layers of strings — and the results were worth it. 

Today, Obel breaks down the parts within "Familiar," the meaning behind the song and how an accidental experiment with pitch-shifting led to one of the song's most dynamic moments. 

— Produced by Elaine Chau