Irish band Villagers have today announced the release of their sixth studio album, ‘That Golden Time’.
The musical project of Dublin multi-instrumentalist Conor J O’Brien, the announcement comes with a single of the same name, a folky devotional confronting the corporeal nature of life with tenderness and searing honesty.
“I wanted the warmth of the record reflected in its title,” O’Brien explains. “The song also touches on a theme that keeps cropping up, of romanticism versus realism. How can you have aspirational ideas about yourself and the world around you, whilst being confronted with a harsh, cold reality? The friction interested me.”
An interior offering, ‘That Golden Time’ is O’Brien’s most vulnerable release to date. Once the album had been sketched out and self-composed, O’Brien let musicians into his inner sanctum: Irish legend Dónal Lunny on bouzouki, American songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Peter Broderick on violin, and a group of players that O’Brien had first seen performing in a tribute to his primary influence, Italian composer Ennio Morricone, who added soprano vocal, viola and cello.
Watch the surreal Rok Predrin-directed visual for ‘That Golden Time’ below.
Alongside their previously announced largest ever headline show to date at Dublin’s Trinity College, Villagers will play London’s Royal Festival Hall in June. More info here.
—
‘That Golden Time’ Track List:
Truly Alone
First Responder
I Want What I Don’t Need
You Lucky One
That Golden Time
Keepsake
Brother Hen
No Drama
Behind That Curtain
Money On The Mind
—
Photo credit: Andrew Whitton
