Following the announcement of his fifth album Fever Dreams, and the release of the song ‘The First Day’ inspired by Another Love Story Festival, Villagers and Conor O’Brien have released a new song and video shot on the grounds of the festival – Killyon Manor.
‘So Simpatico’ is a love song, a song of devotion as O’Brien says. A seven-minute triumph of opening yourself to what could be. It floats off into bliss in its outro of saxophone with the refrain of “The more I know, the more I care”, following from a glockenspiel-featuring song structure.
“It’s a song of devotion; whether to a person, the self, or the art of being, a struggle for authenticity is at its core. We all jammed and recorded an early version with too many words and I took it home and simplified it until it was as pure an expression as possible. It’s a pop song about the essence of love.”
Conor O’Brien
The video was directed by Rosie Barrett, at the familiar festival location, and stars Ben Waddell and Paul Reid.
“So Simpatico is a journey of awakening and self-reflection of a sad clown finding love within himself and sparking that zest for life that was lost some time ago. Creating a visual narrative for this beautiful song was a joy as I have been long admiring Conor’s music. I had the pleasure of working with a brilliant cast and crew in the making and I am very excited to see this video out in the world.”
Director Rosie Barrett
Album info:
Fever Dreams is a paean to human connection. The songs on the album were found in many places, from connections at County Meath’s Another Love Story festival and night swimming on a Dutch island to Flann O’Brien, Audre Lorde, David Lynch, L. S. Lowry via the library music of Piero Umiliani and Alessandro Alessandroni and jazz from Duke Ellington and Alice Coltrane. O’Brien says on the gestation of Fever Dreams: “I had an urge to write something that was as generous to the listener as it was to myself. Sometimes the most delirious states can produce the most ecstatic, euphoric and escapist dreams.”
There are 4 different album artworks for Fever Dreams, all related to the album’s themes through constellations included in Ptolemy’s 2nd century list of 48 constellations: Ursa Major (bear), Aquila (eagle), Cassiopeia (elk) & Serpens (snake). O’Brien adds: “I think constellations as representations of how we search for shapes, meaning and pattern in order to gain a sense of control over our existence and lives.” View all the album covers here.
Fever Dreams follows The Art Of Pretending To Swim, Darling Arithmetic, {Awayland} and Becoming A Jackal.
2021 live dates
19th August – Banquet Records, Kingston – Evening
20th August – Rough Trade East, London – Sold out
21st August – Relevant Records, Cambridge – Lunchtime
21st August – Resident Records, Brighton – Evening
22nd August – Rough Trade Bristol, Bristol – Lunchtime
22nd August – Truck, Oxford – Evening
23rd August – Rough Trade Nottingham, Nottingham – Lunchtime
23rd August – Vinyl Tap, Huddersfield – Evening
24th August – Jumbo Records, Leeds – Lunchtime
24th August – Action Records, Preston – Evening
27th August – Down the Rabbit Hole Festival, Beuningen, Netherlands
28 August – Burgerweeshuis, Deventer, Netherlands
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
11th December – Vicar Street, Dublin – Sold out
12th December – Vicar Street, Dublin – Sold out
13th December – Vicar Street, Dublin
Fever Dreams is available to pre-order on Dom Mart exclusive coloured vinyl (with one-sided 7” and signed 4 postcard set), indies exclusive coloured vinyl, Dinked Editions exclusive coloured vinyl (with flexi disc), Irish exclusive coloured vinyl, vinyl, CD and digitally. Pre-order: Dom Mart | Digital The initial press of all vinyl formats features a die cut sleeve with 4 interchangeable album covers.
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