Formed as a way to explore lead singer Conor O’Brien’s interest in folk music, Villagers have become one of the most praised acts to emerge from Ireland in the 2010s. Legendary music journalist Jon Pareles wrote that O’Brien’s lyrics “approach the bitter romanticism of Leonard Cohen” and compared the band’s music to fellow Irish hitmakers The Frames and U2, with songs frequently approaching “ballooning, hypnotic crescendos”. Their 2010 debut album Becoming a Jackal was nominated for the prestigious Mercury Prize in the UK, as was its follow-up, Awayland, and in 2016 they were awarded the prestigious Ivor Novello Best Album award for Darling Arithmetic. The band’s most recent release, The Art of the Pretending How to Swim, promises to take them in an exciting new direction, incorporating elements of electronic music.
Clash Magazine described their new sound as evocative of the XX and Radiohead and the NME called it “their most ambitious album to date,” one that should see them cross over into the pop mainstream. This Other Voices special was recorded during the group’s most recent Irish tour and offers a never-before-seen glimpse of the group, including Conor singing the track “Waves” outdoors on the Dingle Peninsula, which captures everything special about their music.