Conor O’Brien has announced that the fourth Villagers album, their first since 2015’s Darling Arithmetic, will be called The Art of Pretending to Swim and is coming out on Domino Records this September 21st. The record will be imbued with “lyrical themes that embrace existential fears and hopes in this desperate, technologically-centred dystopian age”.

The band have also dropped the albums lead single ‘A Trick of the Light’ accompanied  by a stunning surrealist video directed by Bob Gallagher. Check it out below!

Speaking about the collaboration, Conor says “Myself and Bob got together and discussed the song thematically and came to the conclusion that there was no other option but to make a short film in which we follow a disheveled shamanistic protagonist who mysteriously triggers an altered state of consciousness in everyone he meets, or at least believes that he does. We also wanted lots of dancing and to inspire a general feeling of ‘What the hell did I just watch?’ in the viewer.”

The track moves away from the stripped back aesthetic of Darling Arithmetic, introducing R&B style bass and percussion complimented by O’Brien’s rock solid vocal delivery. The album will reportedly reconnect with the multi-faceted approach of Villagers’ 2010 album debut Becoming A Jackal and 2013’s {Awayland}. I can’t wait to hear the rest of the record.

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