BAEBLE SESSIONS: Villagers at The Creative Little Garden

The origins of Villagers - the musical moniker espoused by songwriter Conor J. O'Brien and his sometimes musical cohorts - began with a personal saunter. "My previous band split up, and I was just sort of wandering aimlessly", explains the native Dubliner. An act of non-consequence, it seems...though funny things can happen once the mind begins mulling over the contents of the soul - the past, the present, the future . One truly never knows what they'll find hiding underneath the seafloor when they begin dredging the bottom of the heart - a dark and mystifying place indeed.

In O'Brien's case, he returned to the surface with the self reflective ingredients for a firecracker explosion of creative action, spawning eleven songs that eventually would become his brilliant (and now Mercury Prize nominated) debut, Becoming A Jackal (Domino).

In this segment of The Guest Apartment, O'Brien offers some insight into the approach of his craft. "The writing process is a very subconscious. For me, if you start to think when youre writing youve lost it. I try to keep my mind quite empty so that things suggest themselves to me." Which means it was a good thing we left our usual abode in favor of a peaceful, green garden hiding in the heart of the big, bad, and busy Lower East Side. Here, tucked away in the mostly tranquil oasis of the Creative Little Garden, it's easy to let the contents of one's mind slip away...especially as O'Brien takes a pass through three songs he felt were ideally suited for the grasses, herbs, plants, and general greenery that surrounded us. It's a "curious" look at a promising, new songwriter, and we're proud to bring it to you in this brand new segment of The Guest Apartment. - David Pitz