Villagers - Shepherds Bush Empire, London, 25/3/2010

  by Anthony Strutt

published: 29 / 4 / 2010

intro

Anthony Strutt watches Irish group and recent Domino signings Villagers play an impressive and sold set of harmonic folk rock at show in support of Tindersticks at the Shepherds Bush Empire in London

Tonight Irish band Villagers, usually a five piece, are playing as a two piece consisting of vocalist Conor J. O'Brien and keyboardist Cormac Curran. They have both CDs and vinyl of their early Irish releases for sale, but have yet to release anything in the UK until their debut single, 'Becoming a Jackal', comes out three weeks later on Record Store Day on April 17th. They play a short and sweet set, which is mostly harmony based. Their songs are emotional and downbeat. At times they sound like the arrangements of Crosby, Stills and Nash and the early work of Prefab Sprout, while at others like they could have come form Neil Young's 'Harvest' album. Both the guys are good looking and only two song titles get announced, 'Set the Tigers Free' and 'Home'. It is a decent solid set, which pleased the crowd looking forward to miserablists and headliners Tindersticks.

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