In 2005, The Frames front man Glen Hansard teamed up with classically trained Czech vocalist and pianist, Marketa Irglova, to produce The Swell Season, an album of affecting songs and compositions. The record side stepped many of the conventional strategies offered on The Frames’ records. From straight songs to piano instrumentals The Swell Season afforded an insight into a whole other side of Hansard, as well as offering a perfect introduction to a very talented newcomer in Irglova.

Fresh off another year of constant touring and gigging with The Frames, Glen retired to the Czech Republic for some down time. There he spent much of his time writing songs. A winter in Eastern Europe can be unkind, yet it also loans itself to an indoor creative
energy that can often stir the muses. This batch of songs didn’t seem to loan themselves to the anthemic nature of the band. Glen decided to enter a studio with sometime collaborator, Marketa, and the two left with the chilling and intimate, The Swell Season.

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 mans love of music and pursuit of unattainable women as a country comes unglued. Like the book The Swell Season deals with the pains and hopes of those struggling to make sense of their lives. A place where characters fade into the picture only to be eclipsed by their own darkness, pursuing the unattainable, wishing for that one love, that one great chance that will give meaning to their lives. Whether it comes or not is all how you see things.

Date: April 2006
Record Label: Overcoat Recordings
Format + Color: 12” LP - white w green swirl vinyl

Tracklist:

1. This Low
2. Sleeping
3. Falling Slowly
4. Drown Out
5. Lies
6. When Your Minds Made Up
7. The Swell Season
8. Leave
9. The Moon
10. Alone Apart

Digital download card included?: Yes