
Villagers confirm UK & European headline tour
18th June 2018
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
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.