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New Music Monday: Villagers

By Dave Sanford Aug 6, 2021 7:45 AM

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Villagers - Darling Arithmetic cover Having had their first two albums nominated for the Mercury Prize, Villagers will release their third full-length, Darling Arithmetic, on Tuesday (April 14) via Domino.

Band-leader Conor O’Brien retreated home to his loft in the coastal town of Malahide outside of Dublin, Ireland to create the album. Villagers has always been O’Brien’s project, but Darling Arithmetic takes that idea even further. He wrote, recorded, produced, and mixed the album alone at home.

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Fans of Villagers’ previous records will find much to enjoy on the new album. Themes from {Awayland} and Becoming a Jackal like desire, obsession, lust, loneliness, and confusion, return in deeper and more-developed forms. The record is an intimate affair, focusing entirely on love and relationships.

The instrumentation, too, finds itself in a much more intimate space. Darling Arithmetic features piano, mellotron, and brushes all performed by O’Brien himself. Unlike Villagers’ previous efforts, Darling Arithmetic focuses on those few instruments with renewed intensity. The record is less experimental in sound and scope than their previous two albums, but this ultimately makes room for a more consolidated and focused sound on Darling Arithmetic.

Since the release of Becoming a Jackal Conor O’Brien’s aim has always looked to be a troubadour, and Darling Arithmetic solidifies that. The reduced emphasis on experimentation and the corresponding increase in emphasis on subtle instrumentation and philosophical lyrics marks Villagers’ third album as a new step along the way for O’Brien. Though the record delves into familiar terrain, it does so with a new level of maturity for O’Brien, in which he investigates the idea that less may really be more.

Villagers’ third full-length, Darling Arithmetic, will be out April 14 via Domino. The album is available for pre-order on Amazon, iTunes, and Domino USA’s online store.

Elevate your elegance: Choosing your first cigar

Face, Head, Person

Earlier this year, I was strolling the streets of New York and ended up sitting in the Carnegie Club with an Old Fashioned in one hand and a cigar in the other while My Way by Frank Sinatra played from a speaker flanking leather-bound books behind the couch I had been using as my perch. It was my first cigar, but it led to a slight obsession that recently found me on the back deck of a lodge in Kenya, staring at Mount Kilimanjaro and smoking a stick while giraffes meandered by. Admittedly, there has been no intention in my budding hobby; I am aimlessly choosing the cigars that look good (the ones that look like those smoked by Arnold or Stallone in the movies, obviously). But I have decided to approach these in a new way, with a little help from my friends over at La Aurora, who graciously decided to navigate my ignorance with some info compiled by Brand Manager John Gaglio, with input from Master Blender Manuel Ynoa, CEO Ed McKenna, and Brand Manager Elvis Batista.

What to look for in your first cigar

FIFA’s Gianni Infantino Is Uglifying the Beautiful Game With $20 Billion Plot — But the Global Soccer Community’s Punching Back

People, Person, Crowd

For the better part of two decades, perhaps even more, corruption has allegedly run rampant within FIFA. Sepp Blatter, in particular, became the face of alleged extortion schemes, and he operated with impunity while at the helm of the organization for 17 years, from 1998 until his forced resignation in 2015 amid an FBI corruption probe. He’s banned for life from all football-related FIFA activities. If you’re new to the organization’s alleged deep connection to corruption, Netflix offers a brilliant 2022 documentary, FIFA Uncovered. In that documentary, Gianni Infantino appears in his previous capacity as Secretary General of UEFA (2009-2016) and later as the newly elected FIFA president, who vowed to root out corruption and hand the beautiful game back to the people where it belongs.

That, as it turns out, was all wishful thinking.

Escobar Cigars, Co-Owned by Nas, Drops Four-Profile Robusto House Blend Collection

Blade, Knife, Weapon

Imagine that, Nas is getting closer to ruling the cigar world. The legendary rapper’s Escobar Cigars, which he co-owns, is making waves with the launch of a new four-profile House Blend collection. The launch is in partnership with Cigar Chief, one of North America’s largest premium cigar retailers.

The Manual has not yet had the chance to do a taste review (a pack is on the way), but Escobar Cigars says the four-profile House Blend collection (Maduro, Premium Blend Connecticut, Habano, and Connecticut Robusto) “has its own distinct wrapper, filler, and strength profile,” and that “all four are rolled in 5 x 52 Robusto format using classic Cubano entubado construction.”