Since I noted the idiosyncratic name of first single Becoming a Jackal, Villagers have been skimming around on the periphery of my aural radar: once I realised I liked the band I did what I am wont to do and went looking for them on twitter, only to read a devastating last tweet: Conor’s sister was dead. It wasn’t quite what I was expecting to find and threw me a little, which is to say nothing of how he must be feeling right now. Becoming a Jackal – now also the name of the debut album from Irish singer songwriter Conor J. O’Brien – marks a coming of age that seems all the more prescient, released at such a momentous time in his life.
Front man Conor has been making music since the tender age of twelve and has enjoyed chart success in Ireland as one half of The Immediate, but a series of knock backs and disillusionments with the industry has ensured that his second foray into music comes with a more sanguine attitude. Scarred by his experiences of working with other musicians Conor wrote and recorded the entire album himself – starting with a basis of poetry from which hang some beautiful folk tinged melodies, he has already been compared to Elliott Smith and Bright Eyes. Clearly no longer a wide eyed ingenue, he shrugs off such comparisons: “I guess I’m cursed, because I sort of look like a more hamster sized version of Conor Oberst,” he said in a recent interview with Contact Music.
When on tour Conor is accompanied by a band of friends who become the Villagers. As befits a man who regards himself as first and foremost a poet, his words are a cut above your usual pop ditty… but the melodies are no shirker either. Opening tune I Saw the Dead starts off the album with the dainty ringing of sleigh bells and an angelic violin, before descending somewhere altogether darker: “Let me show you the backroom where I saw the dead dancing like children on a midsummer morn. And they asked me to join…. ” There’s a dark undercurrent to these tunes and the opener ends in crackling oblivion. On the title track the jackal is an unusual metaphor for a difficult love affair, but it works beautifully. “Where the jackals preyed on every soul, where they tied you to a pole and stripped you of your clothes…” New single Ship of Promises follows straight on with a hasty strum, Conor sounding curiously American in brogue – maybe that’s just the similarity with the Irish accent. Home returns once more to the twilight hours, somewhere halfwhere between reality and the dreamworld, backing vocals muffled behind lyrics that talk of weapons and running. Things start to look a bit more upbeat by The Pact (I’ll Be Your Fever) which sees Conor falling in love, in harmony. “Your newness is all I need.” Set the Tigers Free is about heading for the open plains, rather than a potential health and safety situation with some furry beasts, and To Be Counted Among Men ends this endearing debut on a quiet reflective note. This album marks a coming of age all Conor’s own, no hamsters required.
You can catch Conor on tour all through May, and he will be playing the Queen Elizabeth Hall on 15th tune supporting Field Music as part of the Meltdown Festival. Becoming a Jackal is out now on Domino Records.
Tags:
Becoming a Jackal, Bright Eyes, Conor Oberst, Domino Records, elliott smith, field music, folk, Irish, Meltdown Festival, poetry, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank centre, The Immediate, Villagers, Violin
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