Villagers

Villagers, a vehicle for Irish singer/songwriter Conor J. O'Brien, specialize in atmospheric indie folk/chamber pop that balances the youthful exuberance of contemporaries Jens Lekman, Eugene McGuinness, and Johnny Flynn with the classic rock and pop of artists like Paul Simon and Robert Wyatt. The group enjoyed immediate success with the release of 2010's Becoming a Jackal, topping the charts in Ireland, rising high on the British indie charts, and earning a shortlist nomination for the prestigious Mercury Prize. Electronic influences would find their way into the Villagers sound on albums like 2013's {Awayland} and 2018's The Art of Pretending to Swim, but O'Brien and his collaborators never lost touch with their thoughtful folk roots, as evidenced by lush and inward-looking efforts like 2021's Fever Dreams and 2024's That Golden Time.