• Other Voices Announce Christmas Gig at Guinness Storehouse

    November 30, 2020 - By 

    Other Voices have announced details of a star-studded Christmas gig at the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin. Home From the Guinness Storehouse will take place on Wednesday, December 16th and will feature appearances by Denise Chaila, Conor O’Brien of Villagers, MuRli, God Knows, Mango x Mathman, The Mary Wallopers, Sorcha Richardson, Crash Ensemble, Sean Potts and Doireann Glackin. It will be presented by Loah and will also feature a spoken word by Joseph O’Connor. “It is an honour to present an incredibly special evening of Other Voices at the Guinness Storehouse,” Loah said. “It’s been a difficult year for live performance,…

  • Villagers @ Open House Festival, Bangor

    August 26, 2019 - By 

    Put succinctly, Villagers make beautiful music. The reason that their songs are quite so beautiful, and the reason that they connect on such a deep level with their audience, is that all of the white noise, static and blasts of Stax horns are anchored by the state of being human and all of the frailty and vulnerability that comes with it. In a scene so often dominated by archness, cynicism and borrowed nostalgia, Villagers are all about heart-on-the-sleeve sadness and fist-in-the-air joy, and this forms the core of what makes tonight’s performance so compelling, and the thread that is woven…

  • Villagers w/ Aldous Harding @ Iveagh Gardens, Dublin

    July 15, 2019 - By 

    It’s an overcast but stiflingly warm evening as concert-goers begin to filter into Dublin’s Iveagh Gardens. Amongst this crowd is a varied mix of personnel. Business types still clad in their work attire, pensioners dressed like pensioners and a select few younger audience members that either appear to have been dragged along by their parents or are decked out in tola vintage streetwear. An eclectic crowd, to say the least. As a decent amount of punters settle in on the grass, New Zealand-born singer-songwriter Aldous Harding takes to the stage with her band. There has been a lot of buzz…

  • Villagers to Play Open House Festival

    April 10, 2019 - By 

    Villagers are the latest act to be announced to play this year’s Open House Festival in Bangor. Doubling up as the only Northern Irish date on the band’s current European tour, Conor O’Brien and co. will play in First Bangor church (a new venue for the festival this year) on Friday, August 23. “We’re thrilled to be bringing Villagers to Bangor for this year’s festival,” said Kieran Gilmore, Open House Director, “and First Bangor Church will be the perfect setting for this very special concert. Dating back to the 1830s, it’s one of the town’s most beautiful and historic churches with a circular auditorium, wooden balcony and divine acoustics.…

  • Villagers and Aldous Harding for Iveagh Gardens

    December 10, 2018 - By 

    Conor O’Brien’s Villagers are the latest act announced to headline Iveagh Gardens next summer. Supported by Aldous Harding, the band – who released one of the Irish albums of 2018, The Art of Pretending to Swim, in September – will play the Dublin show on Friday, July 12. Tickets go on sale on Thursday, December 13 at 9am.

  • Metropolis 2018

    November 3, 2018 - By 

    The Saturday of this year’s Metropolis, featuring Villagers, Gwenno, Booka Brass, Friendly Fires, David O’Doherty and David Keenan. Photos by Mark Earley.

  • Track-by-Track: Villagers – The Art of Pretending To Swim

    October 4, 2018 - By 

    Ahead of recording a session for Radio Ulster’s Across The Line at Belfast’s Start Together Studio, Villagers’ Conor O’Brien sits down with Brian Coney to talk through the writing and recording of his stellar, self-produced new album, The Art of Pretending to Swim. Listen back to the ATL Live Session here. 1. Again The underlying beat on ‘Again’ gives a real subtle, nocturnal club vibe. Did you intend that or was it accidental? It was probably a bit of both. I wrote the riff and realised that it was basically 120 BPM, and I was like, “Cool, that will work…

  • Villagers – The Art Of Pretending To Swim

    September 20, 2018 - By 

      Not to put too fine a point on it, the latest full-length release from Villagers is a lovely thing. At times so fragile it appears as though the music itself might break, at others dense and swirling with otherworldly sounds, the album never fails to intrigue and surprise whoever takes some much-needed time out from the day’s push and pull. Opener ‘Again’ immediately sets both the tone and style of the entire work: delicate fingerpicking is counterbalanced by a strange, robotic voice repeating the title while Conor O’Brien, sounding as sweet and forlorn as ever, sings of dejection and searching for…

  • Mac DeMarco, Blood Orange, Roisin Murphy and More for Metropolis Festival

    August 23, 2018 - By 

    Dublin’s annual October Bank Holiday fest Metropolis always deliver with the line-ups, and it seems that this year is going to be no exception. Ahead of many more acts to be announced, Mac DeMarco, Blood Orange, Villagers, Roisin Murphy, The Black Madonna, Young Fathers, Grandbrothers and Gwenno are amongst the first names confirmed to play the RDS across October 27-28. Promising, once more, music, performance, conversation and installation for its fourth edition, tickets go on sale at Friday, August 24 at 9am, ranging from €49.50 to €115.00. Installment plans are available.