The Swell Season

VINYL FORMAT. Comes with a digital download; available for the first time on vinyl in the US! Frames front man Hansard has teamed up with classically trained Czech vocalist and pianist Marketa Irglova to produce this album of affecting songs and compositions. From straight songs to piano instrumentals, The Swell Season affords an insight into a whole other side of Glen/The Frames, as well as offering a perfect introduction to this very talented newcomer. The record takes its name from author Josef Skvorecky's book of the same name. Set in Nazi occupied Czechoslovakia, the story centers on one man's love of music and his pursuit of unattainable women as a country comes unglued. Like the book, the record deals with the pains and hopes of those struggling to make sense of their lives. The band has went on to wider success through their work in the film Once, and have since issued both a soundtrack and a second record on Anti- Records. However this was the quiet debut release that started it all, recorded shortly prior to the filming of the movie. At the time Glen Hansard of The Frames had recently teamed up with classically trained Czech vocalist and pianist Marketa Irglova to write a handful of affecting songs and compositions for their friend and filmmaker, John Carney. Some of these songs would go onto make the film Once, while others didn't. The two choose to issue this record on CD shortly after, thinking it unlikely that there would ever be an actual soundtrack or distribution of the film they had just completed. Of course this could not have been further from what ultimately happened (when it came time to put the soundtrack together the band rerecorded four of the songs for the soundtrack; the other six songs are specific to this release and not available elsewhere). Listening back through The Swell Season in comparison to Frames records, the songs on Once, or their recent record Strict Joy, one can't help but be struck by just how intimate the whole affair feels. Recorded in a small studio in the Czech Republic with a limited budget, the two are joined only by two other string players, giving the songs a sense of space and isolation - a feeling that works particularly well for this batch of songs and in particular a vinyl record. The record stands on it's own as a complete piece on par with some of the more personal musical statements of the last few years.