Where Have You Been All My Life?, released on 8th January 2016, is a collection of songs that distils five years and three albums of Villagers’ songwriting into one flowing narrative.
Recorded in one day at London’s RAK Studio with Richard Woodcraft (Radiohead, The Last Shadow Puppets) and Villagers live engineer Ber Quinn, the album is a re-imagining of older material seamlessly woven with present glories from Villagers’ most recent studio album, Darling Arithmetic.
Released in April 2015, Conor O’Brien’s third album under the guise of Villagers was a more pared-back, intimate journey compared to the multi-faceted arrangements of Becoming A Jackal (2010) and {Awayland} (2013). This fresh approach was extended on subsequent Villagers tours, where old songs were reinvented to match the new. Then for one day in July 2015, 18 songs were quickly captured and 12 songs chosen for the final album, making it Villagers’ most intense, but satisfying, session to date. These recordings are all first or second takes, and the immediacy of the occasion was part of the magic that day, live and unadorned by overdubs or studio trickery.
The unique nature of these arrangements is due in no small part to the musicians in the room at the time of recording: Cormac Curran on grand piano and analogue synthesizer, Danny Snow on double bass, Mali Llywelyn on harp, mellotron and vocals, and Gwion Llewelyn on drums, flugelhorn and vocals. The result is a lush, harmony-laden and vibrant document of a time and a place.
Included in the album is a new recording of ‘Memoir’, which O’Brien wrote for Charlotte Gainsbourg; it can be found on her 2011 album Stage Whisper, but has never before been recorded by Villagers until now.
supported by 8 fans who also own “Where Have You Been All My Life?”
This is undoubtedly my single favorite album of all time. It feels like such a perfect culmination of all the themes and ideas Fleet Foxes has been working with since 2008. It answers many of the questions found on both Helplessness Blues and Crack-Up, and represents an incredible maturation and growth in Robin Pecknold's perspective. Their other albums are certainly masterpieces, but this, in my opinion, is their magnum opus. I doubt it will be recognized as such in its time. isaiah_stuart
supported by 6 fans who also own “Where Have You Been All My Life?”
This guy demonstrating that my generation was allowed to have "weird little guy" as a career path and reminding us of what we're missing because that isn't really a thing anymore. lldf
Terry Venemous is releasing new music every 3 weeks this year. His latest EP is sumptuous art pop with a wry sense of detachment.
Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 27, 2024
supported by 6 fans who also own “Where Have You Been All My Life?”
So glad to found the complete bundle was still available to buy. I couldn't just buy the standalone LP, had to get all the items together to increase my own delight! ♡ One of my favourite records of Sufjan along with Carrie & Lowell and The Greatest Gift. Vinilocioso