Mercury-nominated Villagers to play Seapoint in December

Dublin’s indie folk band, Villagers make a welcome return to Galway for a show on December 14 at Seapoint Ballroom. Villagers’ latest album, {Awayland} has just been nominated for the  prestigious Mercury Prize in the UK, alongside acts like Foals, Arctic Monkeys and the legendary David Bowie.

 This is the second Mercury nomination for Villagers, whose debut album Becoming a Jackal, was nominated for that and for a Choice award.

They are the first Irish band to make the Mercury list twice and the winner will be announced in London on October 30.

Villagers’ current single is Earthly Pleasure from {Awayland} follows on from previous singles The Waves and Nothing Arrived, a number that manages to be both weary and irresistible.

In March Villagers played two sold-out shows in Dublin’s Olympia Theatre and more recently Conor O’Brien was invited to appear at Beck’s Song Reader Live at The Barbican in London, alongside Jarvis Cocker from Pulp, Franz Ferdinand, Charlotte Gainsbourg and others. Conor performed his own sensitive version of Old Shanghai and also performed a duet with Beck on closing song Do We, We Do.

Villagers stand out from their peers by virtue of Conor O’Brien’s sublime songwriting. Onstage he is both enigmatic and charming, and is backed by a band with a intuitive understanding of the swells and surges of his music.

This is a show that’s not to be missed. Doors 8pm, tickets €24/€22 online.