Becoming a Jackal

Villagers

Domino/EMI (Australia)

Villagers is actually Irish singer-songwriter Conor O’Brien. While there are a large number of singer-songwriters on the market, O’Brien takes a darker and more reflective turn and the songs linger in your memory far beyond their first unveiling. It is an impressive debut album with strange and wonderful lyrics, a lush atmospheric sound and a sweet voice which sounds a bit like the early Peter Gabriel from Genesis.

At the same time the lyrics are not superficial and offer interesting food for thought including the opening I Saw the Dead to the final track which reflects on a Pope who is in spiritual crisis ! It covers the gambit of territory from the lush to the gothic, to the edgy to the uplifting; clocking in at about three quarters of an hour, it is a fascinating journey into the complex dreams and visions of a young man who has a maturity, both musically and personally, way beyond his age.

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This review will appear in Volume 3 No. 4 of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

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