Villagers confirm UK & European headline tour

Last week heralded the news of Villagers’ return; Conor O’Brien’s fourth studio album, The Art Of Pretending To Swim, will be released by Domino on Friday 21st September.

Having shared a new song and video ‘A Trick Of The Light’, Villagers are now pleased to confirm UK and European headline live dates including London’s Hackney Arts Centre and Dublin’s Metropolis Festival, which they’ll headline and curate on 27th October.

Following the exquisitely sparse, intimate aura of 2015’s Darling Arithmetic, O’Brien’s new record reconnects with the multi-faceted approach of Villagers’ 2010 album debut Becoming A Jackal and 2013’s {Awayland} while adding a new-found soulfulness, rhythmic nous and dazzling panoply of sonic detail, both analogue and digital, creating feverish moods while writing effortlessly accessible tunes. Balanced with subtle aspects and lyrical themes that embrace existential fears and hopes in this desperate, technologically-centred dystopian age, The Art Of Pretending To Swim is the most brilliantly realised Villagers album to date.

Villagers live dates

Wed 17th Oct – Rescue Rooms, Nottingham

Thurs 18th Oct – Art School, Glasgow

Fri 19th Oct – Gorilla, Manchester

Sun 21st Oct – Wardrobe, Leeds

Mon 22nd Oct – O2 Academy 2, Oxford

Tues 23rd Oct – Hackney Arts Centre, London

Thurs 25th Oct – Arts Club, Liverpool

Sat 27th Oct – Metropolis Festival, RDS, Dublin

Tues 30th Oct – Trinity, Bristol

Wed 31st Oct – Old Market, Brighton

Thurs 1st Nov – La Madeleine, Brussels

Sat 3rd Nov – Zoom, Frankfurt

Mon 5th Nov – Vega, Copenhagen

Tues 6th Nov - Gruenspan, Hamburg

Thurs 8th Nov – Kesselhaus, Berlin

Fri 9th Nov – Hybrydy, Warsaw

Sat 10th Nov – Futurum, Prague

Mon 12th Nov – Doornroosje, Nijmegen

Tues 13th Nov – Melkweg (Old Hall), Amsterdam

Wed 14th Nov – Trabendo, Paris

Fri 16th Nov – Le Boucau, Biarritz

Sun 18th Nov – Kafe Antzokia, Bilbao

Mon 19th Nov – Chango, Madrid

Tues 20th Nov – Razzmatazz 2, Barcelona

Thurs 22nd Nov – Ridotto Teatro Regio, Parma

Fri 23rd Nov – Spazio 211, Turin

Sat 24th Nov – Port-Franc, Sion

Mon 26th Nov – Papiersaal, Zurich

Tues 27th Nov – Kulturkirche, Cologne

Wed 28th Nov – Tivoli Vredenburg, Utrecht

General Sale - all tickets 9am 22nd June

Tickets  

O’Brien has a string of accolades under his belt including two Ivor Novello Awards (the most recent being 2016’s Album Award for Darling Arithmetic), two Mercury Music Prize nominations and is also a previous winner of Ireland’s Choice Music Prize.

Additionally, Villagers’ music recently featured in the high profile HBO drama ‘Big Little Lies’, Conor has collaborated with the composer Nico Muhly (that track featuring in the forthcoming Paulo Sorrentino Berlusconi biopic ‘Loro 2’) and Villagers’ Spotify session of ‘Nothing Arrived’ has hit over 100 million streams.

The Art Of Pretending To Swim is available to pre-order on Domino Mart-exclusive deluxe LP (includes 10” of a 12-minute version of ‘Ada’ and B-side ‘This Is The Art Of Pretending To Swim’ plus signed lyric booklet), Deluxe LP (includes ‘Ada’/’ This Is The Art Of Pretending To Swim’ 10”), Standard LP, CD and Digitally.