The Villager is going global

Conor O’Brien of Villagers talks to Nadine O’Regan about his struggles, his new album, his faith, his contempt for the Church and his distress at the artistic exodus from Dublin

Conor O’Brien: ‘We’re going to have fun in a different type of way than we ever did at Villagers shows before’ Pic: Rich Gilligan

Making music is easy for Conor O’Brien. It’s navigating the rest of the world that he sometimes finds hard. In an upstairs hideaway bar on Dublin’s Aungier Street, the frontman of Villagers is being honest about his own struggles with quotidian realities.

“I have high anxiety moments and then sometimes I’m fine,” he says. “This anxiety hits me so bad sometimes that I find it hard to do everyday things – like if ...