Villagers
Awayland (Domino)
Tuesday 05 February 2013
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EmailAfter the success of their last outing Becoming A Jackal, the Villagers up the stakes with this new collection of Conor O'Brien songs which intentionally employ childlike innocence in describing the world.
These lyrics convey a contemporary melancholy which perhaps only an Irish soul is capable of as evidenced in Pensive In My Lighthouse but then a rapturous energy explodes on Nothing Arrived.
The quintet imbues these songs with gob-smacking tonal depth and range, including gentle nods to Kraftwerk. It is this richness of melodic inventiveness that accounts for their sell-out dates across Britain and Europe.
The persuasive, delicate voice of O'Brien invites intimacy and who'd disagree when he muses in Earthly Pleasures that "The only thing your children cherish is to move up the ranks/Lucifer is in our courts, Beelzebub is in our banks/And if you don't co-operate with us, we'll hound you 'til you're dead."
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