VILLAGERS // GLASGOW GARAGE, GLASGOW
Villagers showcase new album with joyful confidence.
VILLAGERS PERFORMING AT GLASGOW’S GARAGE - 18.10.2018
PICTURE BY: KENDALL WILSON PHOTOGRAPHY
★★★★☆ [4.5/5]
On Villagers' most recent album The Art of Pretending to Swim Conor O'Brien has got his groove back, and then some. The nifty studio magic that gained his band a raft of followers through their first two releases has been distilled by a master craftsman, O'Brien himself, and blended with the raw potency of 2015's Ivor Novello-winning Darling Arithmetic. The result is a heady concoction; harmonically vibrant and playful with subtly textured rhythms, and laced with O'Brien's always intriguing lyricism. It tempers listeners with bold satire and heartfelt musings on where we place our faith - in love, humanity, religion, ourselves - all served over luscious layers of acoustic guitar, piano, strings, brass and occasionally low-key EDM.
Bringing an album of this sonic complexity into a live setting presents those same old challenges from the earlier recordings but O'Brien has assembled a fine musical collective to support his endeavour, most of whom toured Darling Arithmetic and later crafted the live recording Where Have You Been All My Life. He also has a breathtaking opener for this run of shows in Billie Marten, whose heart-on-sleeve songwriting and bare-bones delivery softens and diffuses any pre-gig tension, melting anxiety whilst gently building anticipation for the main event. A kind of Julia Jacklin wit by way of Lucy Rose delivery. Poignant and ethereal. Also she brought cake - lemon drizzle - as a sort of apology for having not brought any merchandise "because I'm a terrible person". She is not terrible; nor is her cake, nor her performance. All are quantifiably sweet.
Villagers' arrival on stage is met with an almost stupefied enthusiasm, as if the crowd are unable to fully grasp their own excitement. It's been over two and half years since the band last played in Scotland. A heightened sense of expectation is inevitable. Breaking through that energy, the band lay down four new songs to open the show; Sweet Saviour and Again wind the new sounds out slowly, growing through O'Brien's impeccable finger-picking before blossoming with pulsing piano and swirling synth. The jovial, swinging melody of Fool defies its bleak message and sees the audience bopping along unassumingly, while the Moby-esque Love Came With All That It Brings recounts a tragic tale over a hip-hop backing track, held aloft by flugelhorn and cornet. It also features the gentlest delivery of "motherf**ker" you could ever imagine as O'Brien's lips conjure all the venom that melody will allow (consider Beck's Asshole but more tender).
A concerted look between O'Brien and pianist Mali Llywelyn cues the flourish that begins I Saw The Dead and rouses the crowd further - they could hardly be more excited about hearing an old favourite. Another four songs from the new album follow; Hold Me Down, more or less the only quiet moment of the set, draws breath and displays a calmness within the band. There's joy and playfulness apparent in their performance, but also control, restraint, focus. The weight of expression in O'Brien's voice is offset by the intuitive spontaneity of the musicians around him. This only becomes more enlightened as the set continues; the R&B-infused lead single A Trick of the Light matches O'Brien's distinctive annunciation with Danny Snow's emphatically funky bass line.
"This is a groovy number; your hips better be shaking. It's about procrastination." O'Brien introduces one of his most soulful compositions to date, Long Time Waiting. He's not lying, it definitely has a feel-good vibe, uplifting yet meditative, and catchy as all get-out. The song builds gradually with an irrepressible, boisterous vitality, flowing naturally into the thumping Real Go-Getter. Marcus Hamblett's jubilant smirk throughout is indicative of the fun had in crafting these songs, as much as in delivering them with sonic precision. His role at this particular moment comprises two critical sounds that shape the whole tone of the song and he's taking it very seriously...whilst smiling.
The back end of the set sees a few "hits" pulled from the catalogue; the iconic Becoming A Jackal is still one of the most interesting pop songs to emerge in the last decade and here it assumes a jazzier identity thanks to Gwion Llewelyn's creative drumming that leads instinctively into the moody, stirring Memoir. Perhaps it moves a little too swiftly as O'Brien loses his words after the first verse and calls the band to stop. Running lyrics between the audience and the band over the longest 20 seconds he resumes, then forgets again on the next verse but improvises. This only lightens the atmosphere further with a splash of endearing humility and O'Brien confidently progresses to the end with the captivating Hot Scary Summer and album closer, an epic ode to the work of Ada Lovelace, simply titled Ada. The latter swells, spirals and cascades well over the five-minute mark and leaves the crowd hanging on to the final note before erupting with applause and cries for more.
A brief absence from the stage punctuates the set before a swift encore caps the night off with the crowd singing in unison. Intimate anthem Courage sounds authentically country in this setting with O'Brien's delicate strumming so precise you can hear every string resonate beneath the exquisite range of his dreamy vocal, now at peak mellifluence. Squeals of relief and delight meet the opening of dichotomous favourite Nothing Arrived as the band deliver a buoyant rendition, charming yet raucous, and always bittersweet. It's a fitting close to the night, where all is not but exactly what it seems. Conor O'Brien has never looked so resolutely content and confident on stage as he does right now, and while showcasing these new songs, with this band, he very much deserves to.
SETLIST: | VILLAGERS : GLASGOW GARAGE, GLASGOW - 18.10.2018
Sweet Saviour
Again
Fool
Love Came with All That It Brings
I Saw the Dead
Hold Me Down
A Trick of the Light
Long Time Waiting
Real Go-Getter
Becoming a Jackal
Memoir
Hot Scary Summer
Ada
Courage
Nothing Arrived