Following the release of their hypnotic fifth album Fever Dreams last month, Villagers have shared the video for their newest single 'Circles In The Firing Line'.

The 6-and-a-half-minute track is the perfect showcase of the music found on Fever Dreams, songs that twist and turn with the magical ambivalence of dreams. The accompanying video, an animated odyssey that nods to surrealistic collage and retro computer games before dissolving into a more liminal, abstract space, is at once playful whilst filled with sense of foreboding. Watch it below.

Speaking of the track, Villagers’ Conor O’Brien says: "I like Keats’ concept of “negative capability” which he defines as “when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason”. This is a song about when our negative capability fails us. I think the internet has a lot to answer for."

The video director, Rosie Barrett, said that it was "a joy to team up with Conor again for this brilliant song".

"From the very first listen I felt this piece really needed to live in another world, and that's what we set out to do. Working together with Conor on themes for this dystopian world of doom was a really interesting and fun process," she said.

Alongside their upcoming UK & Irish live dates – which includes 4 dates at Dublin’s Vicar Street, Villagers have confirmed a European tour for January 2022.

They will also take part in Hot Press's Up Close & Personal, a series of live conversations with the artists behind seminal Irish albums, to take place at the Grand Social, Dublin, to discuss their highly acclaimed second album Awayland, on September 28th (tickets available here).

Tickets for Villagers Irish, UK and European tour dates are available here. See below for full list of dates, and to watch the beautifully animated video for 'Circles in the Firing Line'.

 

2021 live dates

7th October – Vicar Street, Dublin

12th October – SWG3, Glasgow

13th October – Rescue Rooms, Nottingham

15th October – Albert Hall, Manchester

16th October – SWX, Bristol

17th October – Junction, Cambridge

18th October – The Glee Club, Birmingham

20th October – Chalk, Brighton

21st October – Roundhouse, London

2nd November – Opera House, Cork

3rd November – Set Theatre, Kilkenny – Sold out

4th November – Dolans Warehouse, Limerick – Sold out

5th November – Black Box, Galway – Sold out

7th November – Empire Music Hall, Belfast - Sold out

11th December – Vicar Street, Dublin – Sold out

12th December - Vicar Street, Dublin – Sold out

13th December - Vicar Street, Dublin

 

2022 live dates

9th January – Burgerweehuis, Deventer, NL

10th January – Trix Zaal, Antwerp, BE

11th January – La Gaîte Lyrique, Paris, FR

12th January – Lantaren Venster, Rotterdam, NL

14th January – Paradiso Noord, Amsterdam, NL

15th January – Doornroosje, Nijmegen, NL

16th January – Muziekgieterij, Maastricht, NL

18th January – Fabrik, Hamburg, DE

19th January – Metropol, Berlin, DE

21st January – Technikum, Munich, DE

22nd January – Bogen F, Zurich, CH

23rd January – Kulturkirche, Cologne, DE