Podcast: Download
This week we talk to Conor O’Brien about celebrating our uniqueness
Conor O’Brien is an Irish singer and songwriter for the band Villagers.
The band came to prominence in 2010 with the release of their debut album, Becoming a Jackal. Released to critical acclaim, the album was shortlisted for the 2010 Mercury Prize and the Choice Music Prize. The band’s second studio album, {Awayland} was released in 2013. It won the Choice Music Prize that year and was also shortlisted for the 2013 Mercury Prize. Their 2015 record Darling Arithmetic quickly became on of Eric’s favorite records of last year. It also won an Ivors Award for Best Album of the Year.
In This Interview, Conor O’Brien and I Discuss…
- The One You Feed parable
- Using art to explore our inner challenges
- His “meditation” song
- His song about smiling into the void- Nothing Arrived
- Embracing the difficult
- How most music tries to cover up the cracks in life
- How music that seems sad can be very comforting.
- Being part of something bigger
- Realizing how little we know
- Becoming more comfortable talking about his sexuality
- Being an introvert
- The sweet relief of knowing nothing comes for free
- Looking for shortcuts in life and how they don’t exist
- Why being on The One You Feed is sort of like going to a therapist
- How therapy is less accepted in Ireland as much as America
- Having faith in the things that make you different
- Finding the things in ourselves that are unique and magnify them
- The mood in Ireland after the referendum on gay marriage
- Humility in a celebrity driven culture
Edie Banks says
I’ve been listening to your podcast for over a year or so. I had an “Aha” moment when you said Art feeds the good wolf. I think I get caught up in is my hobby aren’t or a “craft” as opposed to what it really does for me.