Villagers

CD OF THE WEEK: Becoming a Jackal Domino ****

On The Pact, the fifth song out of the 10 on this album, you realise things are getting perilously close to "Album of the Year" territory, such is the resonant richness here. Said song is a jaunty Crosby, Stills and Nash sounding affair that is one of many euphonic delights on this dazzling debut.

There's musicianship and lyricism to spare on Conor O'Brien's first album since the break-up of The Immediate. Sweeter and more soulful than a Conor Oberst, brighter and better than an Elliot Smith (the reference points that will be offered up in reviews of this), Becoming a Jackalmeets and frequently exceeds all expectations.

Looking freakily like Tracey Thorn, the twenty-something Dubliner has atoned for the sin of being part of the rather flippant dissolution of The Immediate, three years ago. That band's In Towers and Cloudsshould have been the first building block of a stellar international career. The Hollow KindEP from last year, though, was an assurance that O'Brien was on an upward trajectory and mining fertile new seams.

The opener here, I Saw the Dead,is a curious track- listing choice, given its gothic and sinister tone (and Kid Aechoes). But the deftly melodic Becoming a Jackal, which follows, is an impossibly beautiful song – and a masterclass in percussive effect.

Ship of Promises, with its very Flaming Lips-sounding intro, has an unfocused élanabout it and seems to mooch off just when it starts to get interesting. Perhaps it's just a case of ambition outstripping execution. He's in sublime lyrical form on Home, That Dayand The Pact(the core of the album), shapeshifting his way through a remarkable trio of songs. Twenty Seven Strangers, forged out of banality (a late-arriving bus) transforms itself into something a young Paul Simon would have killed for.

With a leap and a bound, Villagers have cleared some height, though it has to be said that there are some rough edges. To Be Counted Among Menisn't a fitting closing song for a collection as strong as this, and the end of Piecescould do with a bit of a sanding down. But, churlishness out of the way, Becoming a Jackalis, and effortlessly so, one of the best Irish albums for many a year. See myspace.com/ villagers

Download tracks: Becoming a Jackal, Home