Philip Selvey // By Some Miracle

Historically the solo contributions of erstwhile drummers have been, well, sketchy at best. For every success there's a failure of equal proportion. For every Phil Collins there's a Ringo; every Fab Moretti an Andy bloody Burrows.

So where will Phil Selway sit? Probably somewhere in the middle judging by his first solo release By Some Miracle. Its gentle, melancholic folk lilts breezily along, but misses on atmosphere, leaving it slightly reminiscent of a Travis b-side rather than establishing Selway as a musical force in his own right.

His debut album Familial is out in August, while the track is available free from his site now.

By Some Miracle by Philip Selway

Villagers // Becoming a Jackal

Here's a review of the excellent Becoming a Jackal single from Villagers for The Fugitive Motel.

Villagers // Becoming a Jackal
Domino Records // 24th May 2010

Villagers is not a bunch of slightly rotund, red cheeked gentlemen in tweed and dirty fingernails lambasting the local Tesco’s. Neither is Villagers a gaggle of haunted housewives decked in Laura Ashley regaling the pursuits of their darlings in the school hall coffee morning. Villagers is, however, folk. Pure folk. Not alt or nu or anything, but folk in its truest sense.

Becoming a Jackal, the title track from Villagers’ debut album, is Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel in a single, one Irish man package. Yes, the lyrics are a touch yearning at times: “I was a dreamer / staring at windows”, for example, could easily be misconstrued as clumsily airy, but the uneasy delivery and sinister accompaniment make them entirely believable. When he sings despairingly of selling his fears as the track closes, his demons almost visible on his shoulders, it feels like hearing Bright Eyes again for the first time. Not only that, his name’s Conor J O’Brien. Spooky.