The Swell Season - CD Review

by Lauri Griffin | More from this Blogger

09 Mar 2008 03:24 PM

Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová recently won an Oscar for their original song "Falling Softly". In his Oscar acceptance Hansard exhorted others to "Make Art". Irglová talked of how important this win was to all the independent struggling artists. I loved her statement, "Fair play to those who dare to dream".

Hansard is from the Irish group The Frames. Here, and in the movie "Once", he is teamed with the classically trained Czech vocalist and pianist, Markéta Irglová. The mix of lyrics, guitar, piano, and their two voices are incredible.

The album The Swell Season takes it name from Hansard's favorite books, The Swell Season: A Text On The Most Important Things In Life by Josef Skvorecky. The story is about a music loving man in Nazi occupied Czechoslovakia. The CD is a nice nod to the story, because it too deals with the struggle of people to find themselves, and find love, and to make sense of the world.

The songs and the sounds of the Swell Season CD are unique. It's folk-rock and indy rock, but shows influences of Irish music as well as classical music. And it works. I can not describe the depth and the emotion that comes through on this CD. The songs have a live feel to them, very personal, and heartbreakingly real. Many of the songs on the CD are featured in their attention getting independent movie "Once", including that Oscar winner "Falling Softly". Songs on The Swell Season:

This Low Sleeping Falling Slowly Drown Out Lies When Your Minds Made Up The Swell Season Leave The Moon Alone Apart

Also See: The Oscar Aftermath

More Oscar Buzz

Media Music Reviews

 
Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google
Learn more about Lauri Griffin
Lauri`s avatar

Lauri lives in Colorado with her husband and three sons. Amidst all the laundry and packing of lunches, she tries to keep parenting fun.

View Full Profile | More from this Blogger



User Comments

No comments on this article yet. Be the first to comment!

Community Tags

, , ,

Discuss this article

You must be logged in to tag, rate, or comment on this item. Not registered? Register now, it's free and only takes a minute.



Signup for our free community and join the conversation with 450,923 registered users active members!
Username
Password
Email
Birth Date
Gender Female Male
Agree to terms of use.
Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | Unsubscribe | Blog For Us! | Be a Moderator! | Advertise with Us | Help