So last night it was off to Oxford to see recent Mercury Prize nominees The Villagers supported by Cate Le Bon. I was accompanied by major-league Villagers fan Stu, so was hoping that expectations would be met…

We only managed to catch the end of Cate Le Bon’s set (on at a ridiculously early 7.30pm), but what we heard was enough to make us wish we’d arrived earlier. A voice that recalled vintage Grace Slick and a sound that strayed enticingly into the experimental, rather than ploughing a straight and narrow folk furrow, meant that the rapidly growing audience were soon stilled into attentive silence.

And so to the main attraction. Appearing at first with what looked like a toy acoustic guitar, Conor J O’Brien is the epitome of chic-geek, engagingly awkward and even a little coy, his talent, however, is clear from the first few notes – transforming him into a confident and cool operator. What was a good and highly accomplished debut album is brought vibrantly and heartbreakingly to life on stage. From Twenty Seven Strangers to Becoming A Jackal and a mesmerising Ship Of Promises he possesses that rare quality of being to hold an entire audience to attention with little more than his voice and a few sparsely plucked notes.

Joined by his band for the main part of the set the sound swelled for album staples such as a thrilling Home and closed with the overwhelmingly beautiful and achingly poignant Cecilia & Her Selfhood, a short encore later we left with expectations more than met.  Mr O’Brien is a songwriter of great talent and rare presence.

And lastly a special mention to Jon Mackay, who took the photographs thanks to a chance introduction on the night from Stu, and who as you can see knows how to handle a lens properly – unlike us! Huge thanks to him for the pictures and more of his excellent work can be seen on his website here.

Visit Villagers MySpace here. Visit Cate Le Bon’s MySpace here.

Buy the Villagers from Amazon here. Buy Cate Le Bon from Amazon here.

Download The Villagers – Becoming A Jackal mp3 (from Becoming A Jackal)

Download Cate Le Bon – Shoeing The Bones mp3 (from Me Oh My)