The Swell Season is a musical duo formed by Irish musician
Glen Hansard and Czech singer and pianist
Markéta Irglová. It's also the name of their debut album. "The Swell Season" name is derived from Hansard's favourite novel by Josef Škvorecký from 1975 bearing the same title.
Since their mutual rise to prominence after starring in the
2007 film Once, they increasingly referred to themselves as "The Swell Season" in promotion of their performances until it has unambiguously become the formal name of their collaboration in 2008. (Notably, they still used their separate names when they contributed their cover of Bob Dylan's "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" to the 2007 soundtrack of I'm Not There.)
HistoryGlen and Markéta, during a show in Derry, Northern Ireland, in April 2006
The self-titled first album came about after Glen and Marketa were approached by the Czech film director Jan Hřebejk while touring in the Czech Republic, and were asked by him to record songs for his upcoming film Beauty in Trouble. It was the first album that Hansard, the singer for The Frames, had released independently of his band.
Some of the tracks on this album have appeared on other recordings - the track "Falling Slowly" and "When Your Mind's Made Up" on The Frames' album The Cost, and "Falling Slowly", "When Your Mind's Made Up", "Lies" and "Leave" on the Once soundtrack.
Glen and Marketa parodied their roles from Once in The Simpsons episode, In the Name of the Grandfather.
A follow up album, Strict Joy, was released on October 27, 2009 in the United States. Three singles from the album have been released: "In These Arms," "Low Rising," and "Feeling the Pull."
Spin Magazine's review of Strict Joy gave the album 4 out of 5 stars. "If Glen Hansard's and Markéta Irglová's roles in the hit Irish indie film Once unintentionally wove the tale of their real-life falling in love, their second album as the Swell Season weaves the story of their falling out of it."
Strict Joy is the third album by the The Swell Season. It was released in Ireland on October 23, 2009, the rest of Europe on October 26, and on October 27 in North America on the ANTI- record label. The title of the album was derived from a 1931 book of poems written by Irish poet James Stephens.
Hansard said about the new album: "For me, it's just an audio diary. It's just another installment of the life we lead."
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