Harmless Noise
A music blog from Ireland.
A music blog from Ireland.
(No Ratings Yet)In the wake of an amazing reaction to the new single The Waves come the full details of Villagers’ second album. Titled {Awayland} it’s released on Domino Records on 11 January 2013.
So I sit down at my desk with a blank sheet of paper, a headful of ferrys and a small collection of half-written songs and all I want to do is to stretch my imagination as far as it can go. I sure as hell don’t want to lose any intimacy in the music, but I need to take this intimacy into a more vibrant place. The furrowed-brow vocal seriousness which I used to engage with has no place here.
And the musicianship is better than ever. My fellow bandmates make the songs sound as beautiful as they could possibly be. It’s a diverse album. It takes you on a trip through a musical landscape, as a tribute to your sense of wonder. It travels through space and time and leaves you back for dinner. It might take a few gobbles. Maybe try it on headphones first, without interruption. I hope you enjoy.
Conor x
Having recorded the Hollow Kind EP and Becoming A Jackal, Villagers’ guitarist Tommy McLaughlin reprised his talented role as producer and mixing engineer when the band went into the studio in Donegal earlier this year. A video trailer, brand-new website, album artwork and tracklisting were revealed yesterday, along with details of pre-orders on CD, LP and a package of a special limited 10” x 10” fabric cover hardback book with silver foil print, containing the album on CD with an exclusive DVD featuring five live performances by Villagers recorded in their studio in Donegal, Ireland. The special edition will be signed and limited to 500 worldwide. Prices start at £10.99 for the CD and £25 for the ltd ed.
It’s two years since the release of the debut album Becoming A Jackal which won Conor an Ivor Novello songwriting award and saw Mercury and Choice Music Prize nominations. Villagers are extremely busy at the moment with a busy autumn as European tour support to Grizzly Bear following an active summer, but still, time was found to perform as the special guest at the Elastic Witch birthday party last weekend, and the next Irish date is at the Set Theatre in Kilkenny on 11 October. The Dublin date at Whelans on 13 November is, unsurprisingly, sold out but there are still some tickets for the Black Box in Belfast on 11 November.
It’s clear that {Awayland} is, as Conor says above, a diverse album. I’m hoping I don’t hear any more music before the album drops because I’m really excited for the full array of new material in its complete, intended form. But that video really is a teaser and from the selective listens we’ve had so far it seems that Conor O’Brien’s put his mind to expanding Villagers’ sound beyond the expected output of a band originally viewed as folk elaboration. The colourful teaser above comes courtesy of Sebastian Escalante, same man responsible for the hi-glo visuals of The Waves.
{Awayland} is available to pre-order now but coming sooner is the release of The Waves as a 7″ single on 22 October. It comes with a Villagers version of Memoir as the B-side, a song originally written by Conor for Charlotte Gainsbourg, released earlier this year for Record Store Day. Check out the single artwork on the band’s FB page. The album artwork and tracklisting follow below.
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