Villagers-Awayland-CD-FLAC-2013-ERP

ELITE               
RECORD               
PLAYERS     
     TEAM ERP
 Info   
     Artist  | Villagers
     Title   | Awayland
     Genre   | Indie                                Format  | Album
     Source  | CD                                   Time    | 43:00
     Label   | Domino                               Store   | 2013
     Catalog | WIGCD294S                            Rip     | 2022
     Bitrate | 806 kbps                             Size    | 265.00 MB
     Freq    | 44.1 kHz                             Encoder | FLAC 1.3.1
 Tracks 
     01. My Lighthouse                                               2:59
     02. Earthly Pleasure                                            4:09
     03. The Waves                                                   5:01
     04. Judgement Call                                              3:23
     05. Nothing Arrived                                             3:46
     06. The Bell                                                    5:08
     07. Awayland                                                    2:35
     08. Passing A Message                                           2:59
     09. Grateful Song                                               4:24
     10. In A Newfound Land You Are Free                             3:30
     11. Rhythm Composer                                             5:06
 Notes  
     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 wayland and 2018's The Art of Pretending to Swim, but
     O'Brien and his collaborators never lost touch with their thoughtful folk
     roots, especially on 2016's Where Have You Been All My Life? and 2021's
     Fever Dreams, the latter fusing contemporary folk with light R&B.
     The second album of any artist's career is always a difficult one to
     deliver and possibly more so if your debut reaped critical praise, a
     Mercury Prize nomination, and an Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically
     and Lyrically. This was the situation Conor J. O'Brien and his band
     Villagers found themselves in when writing their sophomore record, wayland.
     The Irishman had hit a wall after two years of touring debut Becoming a
     Jackal and found creativity hard to come by.
     It was at this point that O'Brien turned his mind away from the
     confessional, brooding folk-pop of his first effort and purchased a
     synthesizer, drum machine, and sampler. Over the period of a year he taught
     himself to create basic electronic music that slowly evolved into the
     soundscapes and noises that went on to form the framework of the second
     record. The textures and layers that these electronic influences have
     created give a wonderful depth to otherwise folk-pop tracks "Judgment Call"
     and string-laden album ender "Rhythm Composer," while the frantic verses
     and melodic chorus of "Earthly Pleasure" wouldn't sound out of place on a
     Bright Eyes record.
     Album highlight "The Waves" unfolds gently from a Morse code-like bleep and
     eventually flourishes into the more familiar sound of horns, piano, and
     gently plucked guitars, until it ends in a noisy swell of feedback,
     crunching guitars, and synths. Another audible change is brought by the
     fact that O'Brien collaborated with his band for the recording of this
     second Villagers album. The songs feel fuller as a result, and without the
     burden of playing every instrument, the Irishman has concentrated his
     efforts into his lyrics.
     These are influenced by literary luminaries such as Slaughterhouse 5 author
     Kurt Vonnegut alongside songwriters Nick Drake and Curtis Mayfield. The
     creative progression O'Brien exhibits here leaves no lingering questions of
     doubt whether he would succumb to the dreaded second album syndrome, and
     regardless of awards, wayland sees the Irishman at his best, both musically
     and lyrically.

356K	00-villagers-awayland-cd-flac-2013.jpg
4.0K	00-villagers-awayland-cd-flac-2013.m3u
16K	00-villagers-awayland-cd-flac-2013.nfo
4.0K	00-villagers-awayland-cd-flac-2013.sfv
14M	01-villagers-my_lighthouse.flac
27M	02-villagers-earthly_pleasure.flac
30M	03-villagers-the_waves.flac
22M	04-villagers-judgement_call.flac
27M	05-villagers-nothing_arrived.flac
33M	06-villagers-the_bell.flac
12M	07-villagers-awayland.flac
20M	08-villagers-passing_a_message.flac
28M	09-villagers-grateful_song.flac
15M	10-villagers-in_a_newfound_land_you_are_free.flac
31M	11-villagers-rhythm_composer.flac
254M	total