Villagers.

Last week I saw Villagers on Jools Holland. Now this struck me as odd, as it’s a rare thing to see a relatively unheard artist playing an acoustic song as an individual on there, and initially I wasn’t blown away. But after hearing further good things I decided to have another listen, and yes, Jools wins. Villagers is the stage name for young Irishman Conor J O’Brien, who creates delicate and beautiful songs that soon get stuck in your head. Generally with singer-songwriter acoustic artists there’s a fine line between failure and Bon Iver, many not pulling off the heartfelt edge they attempt. Villagers are on the right side of that line, and with a debut album released on 24^th May entitled Becoming A Jackal, they’re sure to gain far more attention. Watch the performance of the album’s title track on Jools below (it gets greater every time), and check out the tracklisting.

Becoming A Jackal Tracklisting:

01 ‘I Saw The Dead’
02 ‘Ship Of Promises’
03 ‘The Meaning Of The Ritual’
04 ‘Home’, ‘That Day’
05 ‘The Pact (I’ll Be Your Fever)’
06 ‘Set The Tigers Free’
07 ‘Twenty-Seven Strangers’
08 ‘Pieces’
09 ‘To Be Counted Among Men’
10 ‘Becoming a Jackal’