Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
STILL WATERS RUN DEEP
VILLAGERS TEASE NEW ALBUM WITH THE RELEASE OF SINGLE A TRICK OF THE LIGHT A WHOLE LOT OF SHAKIN’ GOING ON AT THE MENAGERIE AN EVENT NOT TO BE MISSED
Few phrases elicit such excitement in the Ultimate Ulster offices as “new Villagers album”. So it was that the news greeted us this week – albeit tempered by the prospect of a long summer waiting for the chance to hear The Art of Pretending To Swim.
It’s touted as a return to the bigger, multi-faceted studio sound of Conor O’brien’s glorious debut Becoming A Jackal and second album {Awayland} that was so effectively pared back for the sparse Darling Arithmetic.
At the heart of all the Dublin man’s work, though, is melody, in all its daring, uplifting, heartbreaking glory.
We’ve had to make do with a little taster in the form of the single A Trick Of The Light, a lovely, loosely funky number (only in the broadest sense of the word) filled with those strange chord progressions that only O’brien can muster.
If it nods back to the Becoming A Jackal days it’s subtle, for while a distinctly Villagers song from its opening bars (aren’t they all?) and O’brien’s unique voice, phrasing and lyrical twists are all as to be expected, it is as different as day and dark from that strumming, orchestral debut. IF ever a band sounded perfect, surely it’s Baby Shakes. The New York four-piece cite the Ramones, Slade, Chuck Berry and 60s girl groups as their primary influences – and, hey ho, what more could you need? We’d also suggest there are hints of the Undertones and even Ash in the mix too – if not in their jangly guitar sound then at least in some of the chord changes and liberal uses of the words sun and summer.
Formed in the Big Apple way back in 2005, and with just three albums – and a singles
The video, too, seems to acknowledge some kinship with its predecessors – there’s a water reference, a big draw for Villagers, and a sequence toward the end when the film’s main protagonist, a sort-of ruffled shaman figure who wanders the streets making connections, and O’brien, in character, are silhouetted against the moon.
In real life of course it is the singer possessed of these shamanic powers to connect, not least in the ease with which he joins the dots of his own path. Though every album, every song even, marks some sort of departure from the last there are lyrical, emotional threads that keep them all together.
“There’s an ocean in my body,” he sings on his latest offering.
“A river in my soul.”
Water finds its own level, then, and in O’brien it’s at a high mark.
The Art Of Pretending To Swim is released on September 21 and until then, we’re all just treading water. collection – to their name, you’d hardly call them prolific but in a way that only adds to their appeal. They seem a bit loose, shambolic or chaotic even, yet each song is a study in perfectly-crafted garage power pop. Yes, the chords are ever so tinny and lo-fi but the lyrics are whip smart, the melodies fall in the infectious-to-earworm bracket and the rhythm is as tight as denim cut-offs on Long Island beach. Tight.
They’ve been touring pretty heavily and perhaps that explains the big gaps between albums (it doesn’t, just trying to be generous!) and now Baby Shakes are on their way to the suitably shabby Menagerie Bar on
Belfast’s University Avenue – the perfect venue for the perfect band then.
And, even more exciting, is that they’ll be supported by Belfast punks Protex, one of the original scene and Good Vibrations labelmates of The Undertones and Rudi, and Sunglasses After Dark DJS. Catch it all at the Menagerie, University Street, Belfast on Sunday, August 5. We told you all about Phil Kieran’s incredible EO Lab II project with the Ulster Orchestra and musicians Eoin O’callaghan, Leon Crockett and Neil Burns. They had a dry run, so to speak, last weekend but the main event is at Derry’s Glassworks venue – part of the always excellent Celtronic festival. So this is your gentle reminder – hop to it!