Music: Jeff Hemmings

Villagers – Conor O’Brien of Villagers email chats with Jeff Hemmings

Singer and multi-instrumentalist Conor O’Brien is somewhat a star in his native Ireland, all three Villagers albums have made number one, and {Awayland} was the Choice Music Prize Album of the Year in 2013, Ireland’s equivalent of the Mercury’s. Last year he decided to re-visit his back catalogue, and re-record a batch of songs, live, and in just one day. The result is Where Have You Been All My LIfe?

What was the inspiration and reasoning behind the new album?
I like the idea of a recording being a document of where the songs are on a particular day, rather than a blueprint or something solid and unalterable.

The album was recorded in a live setting, in one day. Was it a challenge?
It was definitely a challenge. We planned on getting 18 songs on tape before the end of the day, and we succeeded. When you leave yourself no option of doing overdubs or re-takes, there’s an element of “fight or flight” that kicks in. I like the way I sing on these recordings because I can hear myself letting go of everything and focusing in on absolute commitment to the song.

Did you specifically write Memoir for Charlotte Gainsbourg? How did this come about?
Someone from her record label saw me playing a show in Paris and asked me if I’d like to write a song for her. I’d already written the first two verses of Memoir but I’d never known where to take it. When I imagined her voice singing it, the song suddenly wrote itself. It was so weird.

Why the title of the album?
It’s such a dramatic declaration of commitment and that’s what the session as a whole meant to me; diving into a feeling head-first and letting it take you where it wants to go. It’s dangerous and naïve but most journeys are if they’re of any worth.

St George’s Church, Friday 12 February, 7.30pm, £16.50