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Jul 01, 2021 By Mark Redfern

Villagers (aka Irish musician Conor O’Brien) is releasing a new album, Fever Dreams, on August 20 via Domino. Now he has shared the album’s second single, the seven-minute “So Simpatico,” via a video for it. Rosie Barrett directed the video, which features two competing clowns, as well as O’Brien and his band. Watch it below, followed by Villagers’ upcoming tour dates.

O’Brien had this to say about “So Simpatico” in a press release: “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.”

Barrett had this to add about the video: “‘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.”

Previously Villagers shared a video for the album’s first single, “The First Day,” which was one of our Songs of the Week.

O’Conor had this to say about the album in a previous press release: “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.”

Villagers previously released The Sunday Walker EP in 2019 on Domino. Villagers’ last album, The Art of Pretending to Swim, came out in 2018, also via Domino.

Villagers 2021 Tour Dates:

August 19th – Banquet Records, Kingston - Evening
August 20th – Rough Trade East, London – Sold Out
August 21st – Relevant Records, Cambridge - Lunchtime
August 21st – Resident Records, Brighton - Evening
August 22nd – Rough Trade Bristol, Bristol - Lunchtime
August 22nd – Truck, Oxford - Evening
August 23rd – Rough Trade Nottingham, Nottingham - Lunchtime
August 23rd – Vinyl Tap, Huddersfield - Evening
August 24th – Jumbo Records, Leeds - Lunchtime
August 24th – Action Records, Preston – Evening
August 27th – Down the Rabbit Hole Festival, Beuningen, Netherlands
August 28th – Burgerweeshuis, Deventer, Netherlands
October 12th – SWG3, Glasgow
October 13th – Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
October 15th – Albert Hall, Manchester
October 16th – SWX, Bristol
October 17th – Junction, Cambridge
October 18th – The Glee Club, Birmingham
October 20th – Chalk, Brighton
October 21st – Roundhouse, London
November 2nd – Opera House, Cork
November 3rd – Set Theatre, Kilkenny – Sold Out
November 4th – Dolans Warehouse, Limerick – Sold Out
November 5th – Black Box, Galway – Sold Out
November 7th – Empire Music Hall, Belfast
December 11th – Vicar Street, Dublin – Sold Out
December 12th - Vicar Street, Dublin – Sold Out
December 13th - Vicar Street, Dublin

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