Villagers (band)

History

Conor O'Brien formed Villagers after the break-up of his previous band The Immediate. The very next day, O'Brien wrote the first song after waking up with a hangover. O'Brien's time as a guitarist in Cathy Davey's band was also critical to the development of his style as he had never before performed alongside anyone outside of The Immediate. Villagers gave their first live performance as a support act with The Chapters at a show in Whelan's in November 2008. At that point the band had previously only rehearsed together on two occasions. They had only seven songs, written by O'Brien and passed on to the rest of the band to learn.

Villagers performed on the seventh series of RTÉ Two's Other Voices television programme in 2009. The band's debut EP, titled Hollow Kind, was released in February 2009. It contained four tracks, all of which were written and performed by O'Brien. The EP brought comparisons with Bright Eyes and Sparklehorse. Villagers then went on tour. They were a support act for Neil Young and toured across Europe with Tracy Chapman.

Villagers appeared at several festivals in 2009. They supported Bell X1 when they performed at Live at the Marquee in Cork on 26 June 2009. They performed at several music festivals in Ireland, including on the Sunday of Oxegen 2009, at Indie-pendence on 2 August and at Electric Picnic 2009, as well as at Latitude Festival in the UK. The Irish Times's Jim Carroll recommended their performance in the Body Soul Arena at Electric Picnic 2009 as "A must-see for those who dig ragged pop, eerie folk and heartfelt, emotional songs and sounds". They headlined Hard Working Class Heroes in 2009, with O'Brien attracting the ire of the audience when he requested some quiet during the performance. They gave a live performance at The Music Show in Dublin's RDS in October 2009.

The debut single of Villagers was "On a Sunlit Stage" and was released in October 2009.

On 15 January 2010, Villagers represented Ireland at the Eurosonic Festival in Groningen, the Netherlands. They were involved in efforts to raise funds in the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. They embarked on a tour with Tindersticks in March 2010 and released the single "Becoming a Jackal" on 17 April 2010. A debut album Becoming a Jackal was released in Ireland on 14 May 2010, with a UK release in May and a US release due on 8 June 2010. O'Brien's elder sister died within the same week. The album immediately went to number one on both the Irish Albums Chart and the Irish Indie Albums Chart. It proceeded to continuously top the indie chart.

On 13 April 2010, Villagers appeared on Later... with Jools Holland on BBC Two alongside Paul Weller, Hot Chip, Marina and the Diamonds, Gogol Bordello and Paul Rodgers. Shane Hegarty, writing in The Irish Times, noted in his praise that "Irishness wasn't a factor [...] The pithy introduction to his performance didn't mention it. It didn't need to. Viewers could have thought he was from Northampton or New York or anywhere". His appearance included a performance of the single "Becoming a Jackal", but then found himself stranded in Brussels due to the air travel disruption around Europe in the aftermath of the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland and had to miss a live performance on Record Store Day.

Villagers played Meltdown in London in June 2010. In the same month Villagers performed a U.S. tour and performed at Live at the Marquee in Cork on 25 June 2010. There was a performance at Oxegen 2010 in July. They were one of the first acts to be announced for Electric Picnic 2010. They also played on the Festival Republic Stage during the Leeds/Reading Festival 2010 A U.S. tour was announced for October and November 2010. In March 2011, Villagers joined Elbow on a two-week tour of the U.K. and Ireland.

As part of Record Store Day 2011, Villagers released a live 12" vinyl record 'Live at the Workman's Club'. The record contains mainly Conor performing songs acoustically with occasional piano accompaniment.

In September 2012 the band announced the release of The Waves, the first single from their follow-up album. While at the time the name of the album wasn't announced, the details for {Awayland} were released soon afterwards alongside news of a headline tour in February 2013. The band were just about to start a tour supporting Grizzly Bear in October 2012. A second single, "Nothing Arrived", was also announced in December 2012 with a release date set for 14 January 2013 in conjunction with the launch of {Awayland}.

Whilst on tour supporting {Awayland},the band debuted two new songs; 'Occupy Your Mind' and 'Hot Scary Summer'. On 7 February 2014 "Occupy Your Mind" was released as a single, produced and mixed by James Ford. As part of Record Store Day 2014, a limited edition clear 7" vinyl version of "Occupy Your Mind" was released.

In early February 2015 the release of their third LP 'Darling Arithmetic' was announced for the 10th/13th/14 April in Ireland, the U.K/Europe and the U.S.A respectively. The new album was written, recorded, produced and mixed by Conor at his own home, with him playing all instruments on the record, similar to 'Becoming A Jackal'. A tour was announced, with several dates in Ireland, the U.K and throughout Europe, and a show in New York supporting Laura Marling.

In March 2015, when promoting the band's upcoming album and tour in Ireland, Conor spoke to GiggingNI.com about the songwriting process on 'Darling Arithmetic' as well as addressing love and the issue of homophobia.

On 19 October 2015, it was announced that the band's fourth album - a live album mostly consisting of live versions of previously released songs - will be released on 8 January 2016 and called Where Have You Been All My Life?.

Style

O'Brien is noted for his dark lyrics – "an eerie sense of disquiet", according to The Guardian. The New York Times' Jon Pareles compared them to The Frames, U2 and Leonard Cohen after witnessing a live performance in New York City in 2010.

Honours

Villagers are the only act from Ireland to have been signed by Domino Records. Jape's Richie Egan has said of O'Brien: "That gentleman embodies everything I hold dear about music". He spoke of feeling inspired after attending one of their early shows, at a time when he himself had just won the Choice Music Prize.

The Irish Times placed them at number six in a list of "The 50 Best Irish Acts Right Now" published in April 2009, commenting: "from what we’ve heard and seen live so far, Villagers generate the type of music (sparse, eerie, casually dishevelled, tangibly cool) that will spread beyond the confines of niche appreciation into a great blue yonder".

Mercury Prize

Becoming a Jackal was nominated for the Mercury Prize on 20 July 2010, with the judges describing it as "a record of great charm and mystery". According to The Guardian, "an eerie stillness" occurred when the song "Becoming a Jackal" was performed at the event announcing the nominations.

Choice Music Prize

Becoming a Jackal was nominated for the Choice Music Prize in 2011. {Awayland} won the Choice Music Prize in 2013.

Ivor Novello

In May 2011, Villagers frontman Conor J O’Brien won the 2011 prize for Best Song Musically and Lyrically – the most prestigious of the Ivors – for the group’s track "Becoming A Jackal".