As we head into summer, a number of artists seem driven to send out positive vibes to listeners what could be seen, bearing in mind the past year-plus, as healing music. Villagers’ fifth album Fever Dreams, due August 20th via Domino is one such offering, described as a paean to human connection…a timely arrival as we shift from the focus of survival to living life.
Conor O’Brien revealed that the source of the songs come from a stream of eclectic connections that include County Meath’s Another Love Story festival and night swimming on a Dutch island to Flann O’Brien, Audre Lorde, David Lynch, L. S. Lowry via the library music of Piero Umiliani and Alessandro Alessandroni and jazz from Duke Ellington and Alice Coltrane. O’Brien says on the gestation of Fever Dreams: “I had an urge to write something that was as generous to the listener as it was to myself. Sometimes the most delirious states can produce the most ecstatic, euphoric and escapist dreams.”
Of the latest single “So Simpatico“, Conor says “It’s a song of devotion; whether to a person, the self, or the art of being, a struggle for authenticity is at its core. We all jammed and recorded an early version with too many words and I took it home and simplified it until it was as pure an expression as possible. It’s a pop song about the essence of love.”
The accompanying video was directed by Rosie Barrett and stars Ben Waddell & Paul Reid. On video Barrett says “So Simpatico is a journey of awakening and self-reflection of a sad clown finding love within himself and sparking that zest for life that was lost some time ago. Creating a visual narrative for this beautiful song was a joy as I have been long admiring Conor’s music. I had the pleasure of working with a brilliant cast and crew in the making and I am very excited to see this video out in the world.”
Stream & save “So Simpatico”: http://smarturl.it/SoSimpatico
Pre-order & pre-save ‘Fever Dreams’: http://smarturl.it/VillagersFeverDreams
Villagers 2021 Live Dates
Villagers have announced a run of UK instore shows for August before they head out on their headline Irish and UK tour in autumn. Having already sold out two dates at Dublin’s Vicar Street, a third has been added.
4th July – Latitude Festival, Henham Park, Suffolk
19th August – Banquet Records, Kingston – Evening
20th August – Rough Trade East, London – Sold out
21st August – Relevant Records, Cambridge – Lunchtime
21st August – Resident Records, Brighton – Evening
22nd August – Rough Trade Bristol, Bristol – Lunchtime
22nd August – Truck, Oxford – Evening
23rd August – Rough Trade Nottingham, Nottingham – Lunchtime
23rd August – Vinyl Tap, Huddersfield – Evening
24th August – Jumbo Records, Leeds – Lunchtime
24th August – Action Records, Preston – Evening
27th August – Down the Rabbit Hole Festival, Beuningen, Netherlands
28 August – Burgerweeshuis, Deventer, Netherlands
12th October – SWG3, Glasgow
13th October – Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
15th October – Albert Hall, Manchester
16th October – SWX, Bristol
17th October – Junction, Cambridge
18th October – The Glee Club, Birmingham
20th October – Chalk, Brighton
21st October – Roundhouse, London
2nd November – Opera House, Cork
3rd November – Set Theatre, Kilkenny – Sold out
4th November – Dolans Warehouse, Limerick – Sold out
5th November – Black Box, Galway – Sold out
7th November – Empire Music Hall, Belfast
11th December – Vicar Street, Dublin – Sold out
12th December – Vicar Street, Dublin – Sold out
13th December – Vicar Street, Dublin
Tickets
Photo credit – Rich Gilligan