Villagers in Birmingham tonight

Rising Irish folk star Conor J O’Brien will return to The Glee Club in Birmingham tonight (TUE) under his guise of Villagers.

Conor, who supported Fyfe Dangerfield at the same venue in January, will be backed by a full band as part of a nationwide tour to support the release of excellent debut album Becoming a Jackal, out on Domino Records last week.

He has already attracted acclaim though an appearance on Jools Holland as well as opening for the likes of Neil Young, Tracy Chapman, Wild Beasts, Cass McCombs, Bell X1 and Tindersticks.

Tonight’s show will give fans a chance to see Villagers’ distinctive blend of strained emotion, captivating melodies and beautifully crafted narrative songs, with the full band backing promising to add a new element to the live shows – Conor played all the instruments and wrote all the songs himself on Becoming a Jackal.

“They [the band] are central to all this,” said the Dubliner.

“When we rehearse, my little dictatorial act is over and they find their own way of playing it.

“The shows are one of most exciting things for me as the music morphs, so you can hear new lines coming in and things dropping out.

“But we only rehearse for a couple of days before a tour, so it’s easy. It means I can keep writing instead of being locked in a room together three days a week. I’ve always preferred solitary writing, shutting your brain off from everything else.”

Tickets for Villagers at The Glee Club (June 1) are £8. For ticket details click here.

Becoming a Jackal is out now on Domino.

Watch the video for Becoming a Jackal by Villagers: