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90Astonishing new album from ex-Immediate wunderkind.
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Becoming a Jackal is downright convincing-maybe sustaining-even these few weeks after first hearing the thing. I'm surprised, though maybe I shouldn't be, by just how cool and atypical that feeling is.
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There's depth, sincerity and beauty in abundance here.
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While that argument over the art of the singer-songwriter may be embedded in a lack of originality, Villagers have managed to craft an endearing record, glowing with a heart-warming level of nostalgia.
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80O'Brien sees dead people, spits at love, puts himself inside the heads of fellow bus passengers and defies anyone to categorise his music. It's a rich experience making the attempt though. [Jul 2010, p.92]
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80The Dublin troubadour's debut as Villagers is rich with risk and imagination, evoking Robert Wyatt and Brian Protheroe. [Jun 2010, p.106]
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80This debut seems to tremble on the threshold between the past and the present, the known and unknown, O'Brien's voice and allusive lyrics displaying a mixture of vulnerability and dexterity. [July 2010, p. 137]
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80While the music is laced with melodies delicate and sombre, the tone lifts towards the end of this accomplished debut, even drifting towards buoyancy.
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80Rather like that other, more famous, Conor - Oberst, of Bright Eyes fame - there's a sense of foundations being laid, in preparation for a career of real longevity. Hop on now, for this promises to be quite a ride.
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Meticulous but only rarely precious, it's an album distantly haunted by Phil Spector's Wall of Sound, a luminous mesh of acoustic and electric guitars, bass, piano and organ, with airlessly thudding drums.
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Every word on the album rings honest and true without any indulgent dips in over-sentimentality.
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70For the most part, this is a fine debut and speaks of even finer things to come.
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If you set aside some uninspired, cryptic-as-poetic moody fantasy lyrics (and a few forgettable songs truly as slight as whispers), Becoming a Jackal reveals a hidden stash of imminently memorable melodies.
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70The rest of Becoming a Jackal finds O'Brien blending the light and shade, allure and unease. Over these 11 songs, O'Brien maintains his intriguing vibe with spare musical arrangements (playing everything but strings and horns) and a subtle, intimate croon.
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69[O'Brien's] portentous lyrics, falsetto-prone quaver, and Simon & Garfunkel tunefulness are essential to the album's appeal.
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There's enough honesty in his rich, warm voice to render even the most forgettable tracks into pleasant diversions on the way to future favorites.
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It all adds up to an imtimate album--not overly produced, but fairly epic in scope. [Summer 2010, p.86]
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