Interview: Villagers' Conor O'Brien speaks to Hot Press ahead of Castlepalooza

“Where do I keep them? They’re in my folks’ house. I don’t know which exact room, but they’re there.”
Conor O’Brien is in extremely chipper form. Having recently been awarded his second Ivor Novello gong for Villagers’ third album, Darling Arithmetic, the band’s frontman is trying to remember where his increasingly numerous gongs are kept! There was, for example, that earlier Ivor in 2011 for ‘Becoming A Jackal’.
“I was a little surprised to win again,” he admits. “I mean, you know you’ve got a one-in-three chance. You have to write a speech because you might get it. Even the nomination was kind of a surprise, because to me it’s a low-key thing, music. Done out of pure personal expression. I guess everything is a surprise when you’re in that headset.”
The Ivor Novellos are amongst the most prestigious awards in music. With a second win under his belt and confidence running high, Villagers fans will likely be in for a treat when the band headline at Charleville Castle at the beginning of next month.
“We’re really looking forward to playing Castlepalooza,” he enthuses. “I’ve never even been there before. I’ve always heard reports back from friends and musicians saying, ‘You’ve gotta check this little festival out!’ I visited the site recently, doing a radio thing, and it made me even more excited about it. The beautiful, beautiful old castle is a brilliant grounds to have a festival on.”
Having released Darling Arithmetic fourteen months ago, the main bulk of Villagers album promo touring is done for now. “It seems like we’ve settled into a two-year cycle,” he observes. “Last year was our main touring year, and this year has been festivals and spot-touring, as well as writing and recording.”
Playing music festivals is obviously a very different beast to doing your own shows. Which does O’Brien prefer?
“Well, it is very different,” he muses. “But it depends on the festival. We’ve had amazing and terrible experiences at festivals. You’re always aware of the fact that there’s people who might not really know your stuff. You’re brought right back to that very first gig you ever played. It tests you a little bit, which is good. Especially for the kind of music I make. It’s not necessarily geared to make people jump up and down at a festival.”
That’s certainly true of the intimate and stripped-back songs on the last album…
“Yeah,” he laughs. “Sometimes I over-pronounce my words or something when I’m playing festivals. I really try and emphasise the narrative nature of the music. Maybe we play a bit louder, and there’s a few things you do subconsciously that you don’t when you’re playing your own shows. But it’s cool. I like challenges like that. You really have to grab people on the day.”
Extremely popular in mainland Europe, Villagers played a festival show near Brussels just ten days after the terrorist attacks in March.
“Yeah, we played Brussels about a week-and-a-half after that happened. Apart from the obvious things like the security and stuff, that show was amazing. I don’t know if that had anything to do with a really nice audience or whatever. There’s certain shows you know you’ll never forget them, and that one was pretty incredible. It was just outside Brussels at a small festival. There was something in the air, but I don’t want to sentimentalise the reasons for that. It was definitely a pretty amazing show.”
Outside of playing the occasional gig or festival, O’Brien and his bandmates are currently spending much of their time in his home studio working on the next Villagers record. “Yeah, I’ve a studio in my house in Malahide,” he says. “I’ve lived there for 12 years now and I’ve made a little studio. It’s become quite a good studio in the last year. It’s quite a big learning curve, but it’s cool.”
He laughs. “I guess if you’re not learning… what are you doing?”
Does he write songs when he’s out on the road?
“Yes. Usually not full songs, but I just have a little stash of ideas and phone recordings. Then eventually, whenever I’m free, I can sit down and organise them and put them in folders and figure them all out. Kind of just like any admin job (laughs)!”
Darling Arithmetic was very stripped back. Will the fourth album see Villagers returning to a more full-band sound?
“I haven’t really decided yet,” he admits. “It seems to be teetering on lots of different brinks. There’s definitely been moments in what I’ve done so far which were quite intimate-sounding and acoustic. For a while I was trying to ditch the acoustic because I wanted to challenge myself. In the last couple of weeks, it’s really weird. I keep getting songs to a certain level and then realise – if I get rid of that piano or that synth and just put an acoustic guitar in, it all makes sense. I must be in some weird way connected to that instrument. It’s kind of disappointing to me, but also I’m just letting it happen. Wherever it takes me, I just go.”
When can we expect the new album to be released?
“I don’t know yet. I’m hoping next year. It’s very early stages. I’m only really on song three at the moment. I’ve been working for months on it and that’s more due to trying to establish a workflow. I guess these things speed up, once you figure out how you’re doing it and everything. So yeah, next year is my provisional answer.”
Castlepalooza takes place in Tullamore from July 1-3. See castlepalooza.com for ticket details