I’m going to wear my bias on my sleeve with this one: I think Glen
Hansard is the finest living songwriter, except maybe Leonard Cohen. To me, his
(and musical partner Marketa Irglova, the songstress who shares my heart with
Taylor Swift) Oscar-winning song "Falling Slowly" is one of the greatest love
songs ever written, and the soundtrack from which it comes is one I own on CD
and on vinyl (which is autographed). I have tickets to see he and Marketa
perform at Radio City this January. Hell, this summer I
wrote to Hansard’s manager to get some autographed merchandise to declare my
love to a girl (this failed, but I did get the aforementioned signed record out
of it, so booyah!) I say this so that you understand that when I put on the new
album from their band The Swell Season, Strict Joy, I was expecting a sequel to
the singer-songwriter, early Elliott Smith-esque music that was on the Once
soundtrack. Approaching the album with this attitude, I was disappointed.
Refusing to be let down by the only musician who hasn’t sucked yet, I
remembered back to Glen’s previous work with the Irish rock band The Frames
(whose albums Burn The Maps and Another Love Song are better than anything that
other Irish rock band with the one-named singer have put out). Now giving
Strict Joy the ears of a Frames fan, I listened hard and was…still
disappointed. Then, remembering Hansard was in the film The Commitments, I
re-watched that movie. This didn’t affect my opinion of Strict Joy in any way,
but man, that movie kicked ass. I was very confused by the latest musical move
by Hansard and Irglova. I know I harp on Hansard, but that’s simply because
he’s had more time to impress me. I still think nothing is more beautiful than
Marketa’s performance of "The Hill" in the movie Once. In fact, it was thinking
of Irglova that I listened a third time, particularly to her tracks. It’s
evident on this album that her songwriting skills and emotional intuition have
grown closer to Hansard’s level the longer they work together, but it wasn’t
until the lyric “Forgive me, lover, for I have sinned/ For I have done you
wrong.” off of the track “I Have Loved You Wrong” that I realized what this
album was. It was a musical evolution.
Like Elliott Smith from Either/Or to Figure 8 or Bob Dylan from
Freewheelin’…to Blonde On Blonde, Hansard and Irglova have reconciled the
pop/rock force of the Frames with the raw emotion of Once and the self-titled
Swell Season release. Tracks like “Low Rising” and “In These Arms” showcase
Hansard’s lyrical honesty, while Irglova’s solo track “Fantasy Man” proves she
is a force to be reckoned with herself. I’m not going to bring up their
relationship like every other jackass reviewer, because, frankly, they deserve
better than that. Like Dylan’s Blood On The Tracks or Beck’s Sea Change, Strict
Joy’s songs of false hope and heartache should be praised on the songs
themselves, not the subjects that inspired them. For those unfamiliar with the
Swell Season’s material, I wouldn’t recommend this as an intro. But for those
who have already seen Once, and are hungry for more, keep an open mind, and
pick up Strict Joy. Even if at first you’re disappointed at first, you won’t be
for long.
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