Villagers will release their long-awaited second album in January. The sequel to the hugely successful Becoming a Jackal is called [Awayland] and features 11 new songs by Conor O’Brien (right) and co, including In a Newfound Land You Are Free, My Lighthouse, The Bell, Nothing Arrived and The Waves, which will be the first single taken from the album and is out on October 18th.

Like Becoming a Jackal, [Awayland] was recorded in Attica Audio in Termon, Co Donegal, the studio owned by Villagers guitarist Tommy McLaughlin, who also coproduced the album with O’Brien. It will be released on Domino Records on January 11th on CD/LP and digital download, although there will also be a limited edition fabric-covered book that features a DVD with five live performances by the band. They’ll play a handful of live dates over the coming weeks, including gigs in Kilkenny and Belfast and at Whelan, Dublin, on November 13th.

A trailer for the album is at wearevillagers.com. “It might take a few gobbles . . . maybe try it on headphones first, without interruption,” O’Brien says.