The Art of Pretending to Swim

The Art of Pretending to Swim is the fourth studio album by Irish band Villagers. It was released on 21 September 2018 under Domino Recording Company.^[2]

The Art of Pretending to Swim
Studio album by Villagers
Released	21 September 2018 (2018-09-21)
Genre	Indie pop^[1] indie folk^[1]
Length	41:21
Label	Domino
Villagers chronology
Where Have You Been All My Life? (2016) The Art of Pretending to Swim (2018) Fever Dreams (2021)
Singles from The Art of Pretending to Swim
"A Trick of the Light" Released: 12 June 2018 "Fool" Released: 20 August 2018

Release

On 12 June 2018, the band announced the release of their new album, along with the single "A Trick Of The Light".^[2]

The second single "Fool" was released on 20 August 2018.^[3]

The third single "Again" was released on 10 September 2018.^[4]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	77/100^[5]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[1]
Clash	8/10^[6]
DIY	^[7]
Drowned in Sound	8/10^[8]
Exclaim!	5/10^[9]
The Line of Best Fit	8/10^[10]
Loud and Quiet	6/10^[11]
MusicOMH	^[12]
NME	^[13]

The Art of Pretending to Swim was met with "generally favorable" reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received an average score of 77, based on 15 reviews.^[5] Aggregator Album of the Year gave the release a 75 out of 100 based on a critical consensus of 15 reviews.^[14]

Mark Deming from AllMusic wrote about the album: "This music feels warmer and more naturalistic than his earlier experiments with one-man recording, and there's a gentle swing in the rhythms that suggests he's been listening to some smooth R&B lately. [The album] is a strong example of how one man with an unlimited number of tracks to fill can create a compelling and revealing collection of songs.^[1]

Accolades

Publication	Accolade	Rank	Ref.
Rough Trade	Top 100 Albums of 2018	95	^[15]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Again"	4:28
2.	"A Trick of the Light"	4:08
3.	"Sweet Saviour"	4:36
4.	"Long Time Waiting"	5:09
5.	"Fool"	3:18
6.	"Love Came With All That It Brings"	5:29
7.	"Real Go-Getter"	3:25
8.	"Hold Me Down"	4:38
9.	"Ada"	6:10

Charts

Chart (2018	Peak position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)^[16]	64
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)^[17]	31
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)^[18]	116
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)^[19]	76
French Albums (SNEP)^[20]	175
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)^[21]	55
Irish Albums (OCC)^[22]	2
Scottish Albums (OCC)^[23]	21
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)^[24]	48
UK Albums (OCC)^[25]	28
UK Independent Albums (OCC)^[26]	4

Personnel

Musicians Conor J. O'Brien – vocals Cormac Curran – keyboard Kate Ellis – cello Cormac Ó Haodáin – french horn Deirdre O'Leary – clarinet Maaike Van Der Linde – flute Alan Darcy – sax Colm O'Hara – trombone Kevin Kelleher – trumpet Lisa Dowdall – viola Larissa O'Grady – violin Siobhán Kane – backing vocals

'Production Gavin Glass – engineer Peter Ashmore – engineer

References

1. Deming, Mark. "AllMusic Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
2. Murray, Robin (12 June 2018). "Villagers Announce New Album 'The Art Of Pretending To Swim'". Clash. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
3. Murray, Robin (20 August 2020). "Villagers Share Moving New Cut 'Fool'". Clash. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
4. "Villagers Share New Track". DIY. 10 September 2018. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
5. "Metacritic Review". Metacritic. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
6. Himsworth, James (17 October 2018). "Clash Magazine Review". Clash. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
7. Jeakins, Dan (21 September 2018). "DIY Magazine Review". DIY. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
8. Byrne, Anna (24 September 2018). . Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on 15 February 2020. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
9. Garcia, Brad (18 September 2018). "Exclaim! Review". Exclaim!. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
10. Ward, Sean (20 September 2018). "The Art of Pretending to Swim is Villagers' most essential release to date". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
11. Konemann, Liam (19 September 2018). "Loud and Quiet Review". Loud and Quiet. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
12. Murphy, John (21 September 2018). "MusicOMH Review". MusicOMH. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
13. McMillan, George (21 September 2018). "NME Review". NME. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
14. "Album of the Year Review". Album of the Year. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
15. "Rough Trade's Albums of the Year 2018". Roughtrade.com. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
16. "Austriancharts.at – Villagers – The Art of Pretending to Swim" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
17. "Ultratop.be – Villagers – The Art of Pretending to Swim" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
18. "Ultratop.be – Villagers – The Art of Pretending to Swim" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
19. "Dutchcharts.nl – Villagers – The Art of Pretending to Swim" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
20. "Lescharts.com – Villagers – The Art of Pretending to Swim". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
21. "Offiziellecharts.de – Villagers – The Art of Pretending to Swim" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
22. "Official Irish Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
23. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
24. "Swisscharts.com – Villagers – The Art of Pretending to Swim". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
25. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
26. "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2 September 2020.