{Awayland}

Album: (Awayland) (2013)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This instrumental is the title track of Irish Indie folk band Villagers' second album. Frontman and songwriter Conor O'Brien told The Sun: "I was playing it almost every day while we were touring Jackal. It just wouldn't go away so I needed to record it."
  • Band member Cormac Curran, who has a degree in musicology from University College Dublin, arranged the strings. He taught both keyboards and music theory when not touring with Villagers.
  • Regarding the album, O'Brien told NME: "If there's a theme to the record, if there was something I kept going back to, it was the question of 'How would I feel about this if I didn't have a well of experience already inside me? It became something I always went back to how would I write this song if I was just coming out of a mother's womb?"
  • O'Brien explained the album title to Q magazine: "I liked the fact that it was the opposite of homeland and all the stuff attached to that term," he said. "Awayland is that inner space which is your own landscape that you can navigate. It's a personal internal journey."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Pam Tillis

Pam TillisSongwriter Interviews

The country sweetheart opines about the demands of touring and talks about writing songs with her famous father.

90210 to Buffy to Glee: How Songs Transformed TV

90210 to Buffy to Glee: How Songs Transformed TVSong Writing

Shows like Dawson's Creek, Grey's Anatomy and Buffy the Vampire Slayer changed the way songs were heard on TV, and produced some hits in the process.

Chris Fehn of Slipknot

Chris Fehn of SlipknotSongwriter Interviews

A drummer for one of the most successful metal bands of the last decade, Chris talks about what it's like writing and performing with Slipknot. Metal-neck is a factor.

Real or Spinal Tap

Real or Spinal TapMusic Quiz

They sang about pink torpedoes and rocking you tonight tonight, but some real lyrics are just as ridiculous. See if you can tell which lyrics are real and which are Spinal Tap in this lyrics quiz.

Brenda Russell

Brenda RussellSongwriter Interviews

Brenda talks about the inspiration that drove her to write hit songs like "Get Here" and "Piano in the Dark," and why a lack of formal music training can be a songwriter's best asset.

Divided Souls: Musical Alter Egos

Divided Souls: Musical Alter EgosSong Writing

Long before Eminem, Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj created alternate personas, David Bowie, Bono, Joni Mitchell and even Hank Williams took on characters.