#12 – Villagers – Becoming a Jackal
Villagers. Right. Irish lad named Conor (O’Brien) who goes by the name Villagers. Lots of people before have already said this but…dude looks and sounds A LOT like Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes, who also has the dual name/band thing going as well. That *has* to be a coincidence, right? Anyway, this isn’t saying a tooting thing about this album. New paragraph.
So I received this album as a recommendation by a few folks earlier this year, although I initially stumbled across Jackal while perusing new albums online (as I’m want to do) and filed it away as future disc to get. It took a few months but I finally took it in and found it to be an impressive debut.
Conor initially brings us into the album through the haunting piano piece, I Saw The Dead and it doesn’t let up from there. The 12 tracks (including the bonus iTunes track) are *intense* and if there’s mostly a good thing although it would have been good to have been given a song or two to provide some relief. Now, we’re not talking the level of the Cure’s Disintegration or anything, but he is a genuine artist who means every word and doesn’t throw anything on an album haphazardly.
One of the things I do enjoy about the album is that there are tunes on here that feel like songs I had known for years, and I don’t mean that in terms of songs that sound like they’re rip offs. In fact it’s quite the opposite. It’s as if these songs were always written but were waiting to be written and sung by Conor. Not sure if that makes sense but I stand by it. Anyway, you can find a million videos of Conor playing on youtube so if you want to go through the songs there is plenty out there. In fact, it’s really commendable. He’s done a great job of getting his music out there, so dive right in. I’ll get you started with a few videos below. Enjoy.
I Saw The Dead
Becoming a Jackal
The Pact (I’ll Be Your Fever)
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