Villagers – Darling Arithmetic

Conor O’Brien may sport a fetching beard these days but the third album he’s recorded as Villagers finds the Dubliner shaving his music right back to the bone. By comparison, his 2010 debut album «Becoming A Jackal» and especially its 2013 successor «[Awayland]» – both hugely acclaimed and Mercury-nominated, while the latter won Ireland’s equivalent Choice Prize – were more detailed, multi-faceted affairs, so «Darling Arithmetic» is a brave and committed new step forward, eschewing the easier route.