Villagers UK Headline Tour
- Written by Marky Edison
Last week heralded the news of Villagers’ return; Conor O’Brien’s fourth studio album, The Art Of Pretending To Swim, will be released by Domino on Friday September 21. Having shared a new song and video ‘A Trick Of The Light’, Villagers have confirmed UK and European headline live dates including London’s Hackney Arts Centre and Dublin’s Metropolis Festival, which they’ll headline and curate on October 27.
Following the exquisitely sparse, intimate aura of 2015’s Darling Arithmetic, O’Brien’s new record reconnects with the multi-faceted approach of Villagers’ 2010 album debut Becoming A Jackal and 2013’s {Awayland} while adding a new-found soulfulness, rhythmic nous and dazzling panoply of sonic detail, both analogue and digital, creating feverish moods while writing effortlessly accessible tunes. Balanced with subtle aspects and lyrical themes that embrace existential fears and hopes in this desperate, technologically-centred dystopian age, The Art Of Pretending To Swim is the most brilliantly realised Villagers album to date.
O’Brien has a string of accolades under his belt including two Ivor Novello Awards (the most recent being 2016’s Album Award for Darling Arithmetic), two Mercury Music Prize nominations and is also a previous winner of Ireland’s Choice Music Prize.
Additionally, Villagers’ music recently featured in the high profile HBO drama, Big Little Lies, Conor has collaborated with the composer Nico Muhly (that track featuring in the forthcoming Paulo Sorrentino Berlusconi biopic, Loro 2) and Villagers’ Spotify session of ‘Nothing Arrived’ has hit over 100 million streams.
Villagers live dates
Wed 17th Oct – Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
Thurs 18th Oct – Art School, Glasgow
Fri 19th Oct – Gorilla, Manchester
Sun 21st Oct – Wardrobe, Leeds
Mon 22nd Oct – O2 Academy 2, Oxford
Tues 23rd Oct – Hackney Arts Centre, London
Thurs 25th Oct – Arts Club, Liverpool
Sat 27th Oct – Metropolis Festival, RDS, Dublin
Tues 30th Oct – Trinity, Bristol
Wed 31st Oct – Old Market, Brighton
General Sale - all tickets 9am 22nd June