My favourite show at last year's Dublin Fringe was Cathy Davey's 'Songs That Scare Children (But In A Very Beautiful Way)', which, as well as being a cracking night of entertainment, served as an introduction to the abundant talents of Lisa Hannigan, David Turpin and a young man called Conor O' Brien, who performed 'Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep':Former lead singer of The Immediate, Conor had been somewhat off the radar since the band split since 2007. However, when his new musical venture, Villagers, was earmarked as ones to watch in various 'tips for 2009' lists by music gurus towards the end of last year, he was nudged back into the limelight.
I was lucky enough to interview Conor earlier this year and, like any good journalist, I did my research and checked out Villagers' 'Hollow Kind' EP. As much as I liked the tracks, I don't think I was fully able to appreciate Villagers' brilliance until catching their live set on the Sunday morning of Electric Picnic a couple of weeks ago.
Now, after seeing Conor perform a pared down acoustic set in the Spiegeltent, almost exactly a year after first seeing him there, I've developed a fully-fledged obsession with the man and his indie-folk balladry.
Villagers are playing a string of Irish dates over the next few weeks and Conor will also be doing a couple of solo shows (details here). I implore you to catch at least one of the gigs and allow Villagers to soothe your soul.
[Image: Enda Doran]
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