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lemonade kid
Old Love
USA
9873 Posts |
 Posted - 17/05/2016 : 12:56:33
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VILLAGERS Darling Arithmetic
Villagers are an Irish indie folk band from Dublin, formed in 2008. The band consists of Conor OÕBrien, Tommy McLaughlin, Danny Snow, James Byrne and Cormac Curran. The band came to prominence in 2010 with the release of their debut album, Becoming a Jackal. Released to critical acclaim, the album was shortlisted for the 2010 Mercury Prize and the Choice Music Prize. The bandÕs second studio album, {Awayland} was released in 2013, and was also shortlisted for the 2013 Mercury Prize.
Darling Arithmetic-full album
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UsYbProrac&list=PLxF9N-bfYs05faVqKaPsvyY-3rNy4rwNv
AllMusic Review by Matt Collar
Coming off Villagers' highly touted, Mercury Prize-nominated debut, 2010's Becoming a Jackal, singer/songwriter Conor J. O'Brien updated his group's atmospheric baroque pop sound with the addition of various synthesizers and drum machines, as well as creative collaboration with a working group of bandmates. Subsequently, Villagers' sophomore album, 2013's Awayland, was an even more robust, sonically layered production.
Rather than sticking with a more-is-more approach, O'Brien has taken the exact opposite tack for his third album, 2015's Darling Arithmetic, forgoing a group sound and instead working once again as a true solo act. To this end, Darling Arithmetic is possibly even more insular than Becoming a Jackal, with O'Brien largely favoring acoustic guitar, piano, and softly sung lyrics ripe with the scent of a relationship in trouble. In "Everything I Am Is Yours," he sings "I am just a man/Tipping on a wire/Tightrope walking fool/Balanced on desire/I cannot control/These ever-changing ways/So how can I be sure/The feeling will remain/It'll always change."
This skeptical desire for love is echoed later in "Hot Scary Summer," as he addresses problems with a possible lover with "So you thank me for my hard work/But you've had it up to there/'Cause this shouldn't be hard work/But I'll fight to care if you'd care to fight." Musically, much -- if not all -- of Darling Arithmetic is pitched at a slow, dream-inducing pace and, while lushly recorded, feels smaller in scope than even Villagers' debut. Admittedly, these are also slower-burning compositions that lack the hooks and pop immediacy of much of Villagers' previous work. Ultimately, however, the pulling back feels intentional and fitting for an album of songs that always seem born out of O'Brien's most personal experiences. As he sings on "The Soul Serene," "So I go walking on the shore/And I wonder what I'm walking for...and I find chameleon dreams in my mind."
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Edited by - lemonade kid on 18/05/2016 20:31:28 |
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lemonade kid
Old Love
USA
9873 Posts |
Posted - 17/05/2016 : 16:35:39
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Becoming A Jackal 2010
Full album
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huy5aKUDnFI&list=PLxF9N-bfYs075BFhoMdoflHxPSTvwVkz_
AllMusic Review by James Christopher Monger
The debut from Dublin, IrelandÕs Villagers is as lush and intricate as the actÕs moniker suggests, but its creatorÕs idea of what constitutes a proper settlement is clearly in question. Formed after the break-up of indie rockers the Immediate by singer/songwriter/multi instrumentalist Conor J. OÕBrien, Villagers is a one-man band, and a damn good one at that.
Handling all of the duties (besides brass and stings), OÕBrien has crafted a warm, weary, and highly listenable first album that shows that you can go it alone without going lo-fi. Part Conor Oberst, part Paul Simon, and a whole lot of Jens Lekman and King Creosote, Becoming a Jackal starts out strong with the one-two punch of ÒI Saw the DeadÓ and the infectious title cut, both of which present two sides of the artist -- the former, a dreamy, dirge-like invocation of Peter Gabriel-era Genesis, and the latter a simple, reflective bit of folk-pop thatÕs only a few vinyl scratches away from classic rock radio. ItÕs a formula that he applies throughout the record, and while it doesnÕt always work, thereÕs enough honesty in his rich, warm voice to render even the most forgettable tracks into pleasant diversions on the way to future favorites.
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The actual writing of a song usually comes in the form of a realisation.
I can't contrive a song. Ð GENE CLARK
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Edited by - lemonade kid on 17/05/2016 16:51:05 |
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lemonade kid
Old Love
USA
9873 Posts |
Posted - 18/05/2016 : 20:33:58
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Villagers
Where Have You Been All My Life? ¥ 2016
Full album play...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gKpQB9FEt8&list=PLxF9N-bfYs07kjc_EzmXX1tM8JMVNwbcc
Many artists re-record their best work because theyÕre in a dry spell and/or theyÕre sick of watching their old label make money off of the songs they made when they were young and signed a bad contract. Neither of these seem to be the case with Villagers though, and the re-recorded songs that make up Where Have You Been All My Life? swell with a different frustration.
Look up "re-recorded" on whatever streaming site you use, and youÕll find original performers doing hasty and underwhelming renditions of their biggest hits. Everything from "Hang On Sloopy" to "Pour Some Sugar on Me" to "O.P.P." stand as testaments that itÕs nearly impossible to improve upon a definitive version. Villagers prove to be the exception to this rule with Where Have You Been All My Life?, a collection of re-recordings of material from their three previous albums that reframes the songs in an impressively cohesive manner.
Many artists re-record their best work because theyÕre in a dry spell and/or theyÕre sick of watching their old label make money off of the songs they made when they were young and signed a bad contract. What usually hinders re-recorded versions is a sense of "we got it right the first time" frustration that undermines the spirit of the original, but the new versions on Where Have You BeenÉ swell with a different determination, one of "WeÕve got to get it right this time." Recorded in one day last July, these mostly acoustic versions were reportedly all first or second takes with no overdubs. The band had already been touring in support of last AprilÕs Darling Arithmetic for three months by the time they went into RAK Studios in London. Arithmetic tracks account for half of the songs on here, but Villagers have restructured the older songs to fit the sound of the newer material, unifying them in their delicate harmonies, brushed drums, and double bass arrangements.
A definite highlight on this collection is "Memoir," which Charlotte Gainsbourg recorded a version of in 2011 and which appeared as a Villagers B-side a year later. The distracting crowd noise and flat-tire-on-the-highway rhythm of that version were wisely left off this most recent recording, and the song touches a nerve even more discomfiting than before. Its desperate romantic lyrics hit more directly. "In the orgy I can vaguely hear the outline of your call," singer and songwriter Conor OÕBrien sings at one point before telling the subject of the song, "you were the lighthouse to my broken boat." The latter image connects the song on this compilation with "My Lighthouse," which first appeared on 2013Õs {Awayland}.
"The Waves," also originally from {Awayland}, is another highlight. On that album, it had an electronic undercurrent, which was later taken several fathoms deeper when remixed by house duo Psychemagik. The drastic acoustic reinterpretation on this album feels like the songÕs natural state, the long-building crescendo threatens to swallow the singer before he has finished saying his piece. The Where Have You Been All My Life? title comes from a line in ÒThe Soul Serene,Ó but naming it as such feels like Villagers begging for new audiences to ask that same question of the album. The music within warrants it.
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The actual writing of a song usually comes in the form of a realisation.
I can't contrive a song. Ð GENE CLARK
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Edited by - lemonade kid on 18/05/2016 20:34:27 |
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VILLAGERS-Darling Arithmetic-Irish baroque pop
