Album Review
Villagers - Darling Arithmetic
3 StarsA simple story, well told, by a very engaging story teller.
“It took a little time to get where I wanted…” is the opening thought of Villagers’ third album, ‘Darling Arithmetic’. It’s a familiar feeling of openness and closeness that Conor O’Brien, the man behind the Villagers moniker offers. Instantly you’re presented with something that’s half a diary entry and half a poem. What’s really different here, third time around, is that this isn’t a starting point from which to spring surprises, there’s no disorientating change of pace, no intimidating raise in tension. Instead, it’s a simple story, well told, by a very engaging story teller.
It’s that purity and simplicity that resonates in ‘Darling Arithmetic’; an album with a noticeably less imposing and remote title than ‘Becoming a Jackal’ and ‘{Awayland}’. At only nine songs in length it’s not an album that over-burdens itself, a smart move considering the consistent nature of its content. It bears as much resemblance to the understated sway of The Walkmen and Fleet Foxes than it does the restlessness of Villagers’ earlier work, with John Grant already stated as a huge influence. Following the opener ‘Courage’, ‘Everything I am Is Yours’ is an incredibly heartfelt song, with an achingly beautiful melody as O’Brien explains that he “left my demons at the door”. It could even be claimed to be uplifting.
There’s almost an invitation to engage on the most intimate, personal level, with O’Brien playing every instrument and pouring his entire being into each syllable. At times it’s so coherent and lush that it’s easy to forget that each seamlessly placed part is being offered by one man alone as exemplified by the enchanting ‘Soul Serene’. It’s so spacious and airy but homely, recorded in O’Brien’s own farmhouse loft. Each song, driven by acoustic guitar, offers a new emotion, a subtle integration of new sounds. Yet Villagers’ frenetic nervousness almost threatens to boil over, for just a few seconds, in the curious love story of ‘Little Bigot’ and a certain intensity and fierceness is once again confirmed. Without swathes of love it wouldn’t be Villagers, but without a little hint of evil it wouldn’t either. Each is delivered.
Nevertheless for all the mature restraint and consummate mastery it can be hard not to miss the sheer energy and fury of previous albums, the restless experimentation. As beautiful and accomplished as ‘Darling Arithmetic’ is, it’s hard not to hope Villagers isn’t finished ripping up the rule book yet.
Villagers’ talent was never in doubt; an act that can barely whistle in the queue for the bus without being nominated for an Ivor Novello or a Mercury Prize. The only real question hanging over him was where to next, but the real genius in O’Brien was he had the answer all along; inwards. It’s that sort of intelligent paradox that drives so many of his songs - this may not be quite the Villagers you know, but it’s easily the closest you’ll ever know Villagers.
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