Darling Arithmetic is the third album from Villagers, released on 10th April 2015. The follow-up to Conor O’Brien’s debut, Becoming a Jackal, and its successor, Awayland – both hugely acclaimed and Mercury-
nominated – is a breathtakingly beautiful, intimate album entirely about love and relationships. Darling Arithmetic was written, recorded, produced and mixed by O’Brien at home – the loft of a converted farmhouse that he shares in Malahide, Dublin – revealing a single-minded artist at the peak of his already considerable songwriting powers. It encompasses the various shades of feeling – desire, obsession, lust, loneliness and confusion, and deeper into philosophical and existential territory, across a cast of lovers, friends, family and even strangers. Backing up his supple and emoting vocal and guitar is the subtlest palate of instrumentation – piano, Mellotron (which accounts for the album’s occasional horn and cello tones) and brushes. O’Brien plays every instrument on these exquisite, melodic songs in a sparse, spacious, acoustic-leaning fashion. On Darling Arithmetic, O’Brien doesn’t only pare back his use of language but looks deep into his own heart and motives. The opening track and first single, ‘Courage’, concerns the most important kind of love – for yourself: “It took a little time to get where I wanted / It took a little time to get free / It took a little time to be honest / It took a little time to be me.”
Villagers will be performing three intimate UK & Irish live dates in February and have also been confirmed to play The 6 Music Festival in Tyneside which runs from February 20th to 22nd. A full UK headline tour is to be announced soon.
The new album “Darling Arithmetic” will be available on CD, LP and as a digital download and is expected to be released in April.
Pre-order Darling Arithmetic and receive Courage now:
iTunes: http://po.st/DarlingArithmetic
Dom Mart: http://po.st/DarlingArithmeticDM
Website: http://darlingarithmetic.com
