Album Review: The Art of Pretending to Swim by Villagers

The Art of Pretending to Swim masters the difficult trick of doing what fans love an artist for, while subtly making creative strides in a new direction. There's the intricate fingerpicking, the intimate vocal, the forceful beats, the eeriness and honesty that Conor O'Brien has made Villagers' hallmarks - but it's atop hefty synths, peppy pop riffs and gloriously soulful bass lines. The Art Of Pretending To Swim by Villagers There are points where the electronic layers turn into a cacophony of shrieks and interference - real chewing tin foil stuff. It's a credit to the production that the crescendo to moments like these after sections of acoustic sparsity doesn't feel forced.

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The former Mercury nominees return with their most ambitious record to date, a dance-influenced model in craftsmanship Words: George Mcmillan Villagers' 2010 debut 'Becoming A Jackal' came out at a time where acoustic guitar music was in vogue and the charts were flooded with the likes of Mumford and Sons, Ed Sheeran and Ben Howard. Eight years on, singer-songwriter Conor O'Brien has proved he's not a one-trick pony, capable of making more than just dainty guitar music. 'The Art Of Pretending To Swim' is the band’s most ambitious record to date.

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Beloved in their native Ireland, its perhaps curious that Villagers have never exploded in quite the way many predicted upon the release of 2010 debut 'Becoming A Jackal' - but their commitment to delivering rich, well-crafted studio albums continues to set them apart. 'The Art Of Pretending To Swim', is instrumentally dense and brilliantly realised. Opener 'Again' delivers a palpable sense of intrigue and sets up a record full of musical treats - from the luscious 'Sweet Saviour' to the psychedelic 'Real Go-Getter'.

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Throughout a chart-topping run of albums in their native homeland, he has shown undulating affection in the likes of "My Lighthouse" and elsewhere considered relationships in the sombre, sensitive style of "Set The Tigers Free". Their fourth release The Art of Pretending to Swim steps away from the simplicity and bareness of its predecessor and experiments in texture and sound. A racing drum beat opens the record and is paired with tinkling piano and symphonic string arrangement as Conor ponders converses with an unknown companion who's only contribution is an ominous ringing of 'again'.

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For Villagers' Conor O'Brien, "folk" is more than just a genre of music. Rather, the music he creates with his project, Villagers (who have now released their fifth studio LP, The Art of Pretending to Swim), has shifted to embody an atmosphere far beyond the folksy proclivities of the group's first full-length, 2010's Becoming a Jackal. Sure, there are the characteristic seaside sounds featured on the new album's soothing opening track, "Again," that can only come from growing up on Ireland's coast— but these seagull calls blend expertly with club-infused synthesizers and vocal effects.

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While ostensibly a group, from the beginning Villagers have primarily been a vehicle for Conor J. O'Brien and his songs, and their stylistic shifts have been the product of O'Brien following his muse rather than an evolution prompted by an interaction between the leader and his bandmates. In case any of his fans were unclear on that, 2018's The Art of Pretending to Swim includes the credit, "All songs written, produced, performed and engineered by Conor J.

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This fourth release of new material by Villagers, the brainchild of Conor O'Brien, is another evolutionary marker in their exploration of quality songwriting. Much like Prince could dress graphic sexuality in a socially acceptable falsetto funk cloak, O'Brien creates delicately beautiful soundscapes that both disguise and accentuate the haunting darkness of his lyrics. This album is somewhat of a departure with a greater emphasis on gently driving drum beats, grooving bass lines and layers of synths and samples.

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