Conor O’Brien, the Irish, cardigan-wearing type behind Villagers, doesn’t exactly make it easy for himself. He has song titles like Everything I Am Is Yours and Occupy Your Mind. His quavering voice is so delicate it should come with a handwash-only sign. And he once wrote a song that began with a line about brushing your teeth naked on the toilet. He aims for the heights of folksy troubadours Bright Eyes and Jens Lekman but, despite his two previous albums being Mercury-nominated, this one never quite matches those artists’ emotional potency. Darling Arithmetic is full of songs about love – or rather, the anxieties that suffocate modern relationships, with plodding acoustic guitar, gentle piano and subtle electronics to try and lift it all. But it never manages to be magical. Dawning On Me and Courage are feebly pretty; Hot Scary Summer is so laidback it might fall asleep; The Soul Serene’s yacht-rock harmonies are a decent touch, but the rest of it slips back into a yawnsome, tenderly plucked ditty. If someone wrote me love songs like this, I’d send them some balls in the post.
