Review: The Swell Season – Strict Joy
Strict Joy is the second album from duo The Swell Season. The duo comprise Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova.This album was released in October 2009 and consists of twelve tracks,all autobiographical and describing the love affair between Glen and Marketa.
The couple starred in an indie film called Once,in 2007 and their debut album named after the band was released in 2006, so they are relative newcomers to the indie folk genre,having formed The Swell Season the year before.
Glen Hansard is late of Irish rock group The Frames and he was privileged to sing at Eunice Kennedy Shriver’s funeral in August of this year.He has toured with The Frames as support to Bob Dylan in Australia and New Zealand in August 2007.
Marketa Irglova is primarily a pianist,and together with Hansard she wrote Falling Slowly, which received an Academy Award for Best Original Song.Marketa,then 19, is the youngest person to win an Oscar in a musical category.
Three singles were released from Strict Joy – Low Rising,Feeling The Pull and In These Arms. The first song is a nice,leisurely,melodic tune slightly reminiscent of David Gray’s vocals, with some firm piano and slide guitar, blending with tambourine and brass.
Feeling The Pull has another David Gray-like intro,this one rather reminded me of his song Babylon,and also quite Dylanesque to boot.
In These Arms is rather lovely…Glen and Marketa’s voices sung against acoustic guitar -very passionate and folksy in its tone. Descriptive of the romance between the two singers. This is my favourite track from the album.
The rest of the album has some charming tracks,particularly The Rain, which is yearning, folksy and classy. Marketa’s and Glen’s voices blend nicely here, reaching a climax in this rather sad song.
Fantasy Man has Marketa singing first, with Glen taking a back seat vocally. A dreamy, rambling tune, this one’s very soothing.
Some lovely Spanish guitar on Paper Cup makes it very easy listening and laid back. Glen’s almost whispered vocals are nicely balanced on this song.
On the whole,I liked this album very much. It was classy,without being pretentious, and struck the right balance musically.
