Strict Joy

Being a huge Frames/Swell Season fan, I've been anticipating this album for a long while now. I can say with a sigh of relief that I'm not disappointed. I really really enjoy "Strict Joy". I'd heard a lot of the songs live, and of course they are better than the studio versions, but it's not really fair to compare.

That being said, here is what I thought:

Low Rising - This is a very strong opening number. People say that it's really Van Morrisonesque, and I suppose that I'd agree with that. Glen's voice on this track is great, and it's got a great hook. My only problem with the song, is the production. I feel like it's been bogged down with too much drone. I think that the song would be better without the brass, and with more guitar. Still, a solid and catchy opening number. 8.5/10

Feeling The Pull - This is a great song. Very folky, with an old time optimistic feel. It's catchy, nicely written, and also it's very short and sweet. It...Read more

Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova return with The Swell Season 2.0 and there's no let down. At first listen, there's nothing as instantly catchy as the tunes from "Once" and their debut album. If you consider the fact that the tunes from those albums represent some of the finest highlights of Glen Hansard's career with The Frames, it's completely understandable. Even if their romantic relationship didn't survive staring at fame in the face, their creative muse did. They seem to have drawn on the end of their romance and the beginning of a different kind of friendship to craft the gentle sadness and cautious optimism that runs through this album. The lion's share of the credit still goes to Hansard but he makes good use of Irglova who's a stellar musician still developing her skills as a vocalist and songwriter. If you consider her age, she should be absolutely devastating as she gains experience. That doesn't even take into account that she was born to harmonize with Glen. Their voices...Read more

I picked up the new The Swell Season CD today, called Strict Joy. I got the deluxe edition, which has a second CD of live tracks from the last couple of tours. A total of 32 tracks - 13 make up the new CD and 19 are live tracks.

A quick glance at the writing credits of the new songs betrays that this is more of a Glen Hansard album. Marketa Irgolva only has a couple of writing credits. But her voice and piano are very present, and the harmonies are still sweet.

The album opens with a couple of good, solid upbeat tunes (Low Rising and Feeling the Pull). Not until the third song (In These Arms) do we get a song that sounds like the Once soundtrack, with Irglova harmonizing with Hansard over soft acoustic progressions. These three songs were released over the last couple of months as singles on iTunes but this is the first time I had heard any of them.

The fourth song, The Rain, comes back up in tempo with full band and impassioned...Read more