It's been almost three years since Villagers released their last album 'The Art of Pretending to Swim', but their fifth album is en route.

The Conor O'Brien-led band made a surprise announcement last night by releasing new track 'The First Day' - a woozy pop song with lots of uplifting brass in the mix.

The track is taken from their fifth album 'Fever Dreams', which will be released on August 20th.

'The First Day' was inspired by a trip to the Another Love Story festival.

“The whole process was pretty collaborative with Conor," said the video's director Daniel Brereton. "I think we both imagined a floatiness to the video, and obviously the title conjures up a lot of imagery and ideas, ‘The first day of the rest of your life’. What does that look like? How does that feel? We were very lucky to shoot on film and have great casting and styling. Shooting during a pandemic is not easy, so I feel fortunate that we got to make it happen.”

See the album tracklisting below:


1.     Something Bigger
2.     The First Day
3.     Song In Seven
4.     So Simpatico
5.     Momentarily
6.     Circles In The Firing Line
7.     Restless Endeavour
8.     Full Faith In Providence
9.     Fever Dreams
10.  Deep In My Heart

Irish tour dates for later this year have also been announced, which you can see below:

Tues 2nd November – Opera House, Cork
Wed 3rd November – Set Theatre, Kilkenny
Thurs 4th November – Dolans Warehouse, Limerick
Fri 5th November – Black Box, Galway
Sun 7th November – Empire Music Hall, Belfast
Sat 11th December – Vicar Street, Dublin

You can pre-order the album on exclusive coloured vinyl here.