Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova Are The Swell Season

Soot and Stars

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Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
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I'm a huge of this duo! When it comes to male and female pairings these guys are in my top three of all time (includes Damien Rice/Lisa Hannigan and Gregg Alexander/Danielle Brisebois). What makes pairings like this is an equal playing field of talent and most important chemistry. God do these guys have it!

Glen Hansard started out in a successful indie band that started in the 90's

The Frames
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I won't get deep into this band as it's not my forte yet! I want to delve deeper into them but for now I've only purchased the Glen Hansard/Marketa Irglova material! Glens talent as a writer and performer definitely shows through and he's been one of the driving forces in the band since the beginning! Pretty good considering thebands been through a lot of successful musicians who became successful afterward in their own right! Here are some good Frames songs for perspective though! :grinthumb

People Get Ready


Angel At My Table


True
 

Soot and Stars

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Re: Glen Hansard and Marketa Inglova

In 2006, Glen started creating music with a singer/pianist Marketa Inglova. They were inspired to do their first album together when asked to create songs for a Czech film Beauty in Trouble! The album was named

The Swell Season
album-the-swell-season1.jpg

The Swell Season was named after a favorite book of Glens and would become the duos official moniker and stage name as they became a regular act! During this album the duo would lay the groundwork for their biggest success yet. Many of the songs created here would be used and perfected for their breakthrough hit movie Once and it's coinciding soundtrack!

Once
once.jpg

Once was directed by a former bassist for The Frames, John Carney. The plot is simple. It's a love story played as a musical about two musicians and the ups and downs they experience.

Glens role wasn't originally to act in the film as he had no acting experience whatsoever but the original pick for the role did not want to act with Marketa Irglova who also had no acting experience. He also did not fit the singing style of Hansards songs. It was when this didn't work out that Glen filled the role reluctantly. The film works because of the natural performance that comes from seeing real people with real chemistry play music that is really theirs throughout. Actually both parties had their own fallings for each other at the time.

once_bg.jpg


Here's a quote from Glen taken from Entertainment Weekly:

"The chemistry between (the) two leads ... was easy to produce during the January 2006 shoot in Dublin. "I had been falling in love with her for a long time, but I kept telling myself she's just a kid", says Hansard, 37, who has known his 19-year-old costar for the past six years. (The two are now dating.) "There was definitely the feeling we were documenting something precious and private."


The film and soundtrack was very successful!

Once Film Stats
:
9.5 million gross American
20 million worldwide
Independent Spirit Award Winner-Best Independent Film

Once Soundtrack Stats:
Peaked at #10 on albums chart in the US
Falling Slowly received Academy Award for Best Original Song
Nominated for the Following Grammys:
Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media
"Falling Slowly" for Best Song Written for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media.

So that's the film but what about the music! Next I'll cover that and the songs through their many stages! :grinthumb
 

Soot and Stars

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Re: Glen Hansard and Marketa Inglova

So many of the best tracks from the film once went through many versions! Of course the first one I have to tackle is "Falling Slowly". even those who are familiar and maybe even tired of the song due to it's success might not know it's course!

The following albums came out months apart from each other and both have versions prior to the successful soundtrack:

Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova-The Swell Season (April 21, 2006)
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The Frames-The Cost (Sept. 22, 2006)
theframesThe+COST.jpg

Here are the three versions:

Falling Slowly (The Swell Season Version)
(a lot more understated)


Falling Slowly (The Frames)
(a lot different, all male vocal with band)


Falling Slowly (Once Film Version)

(gorgeous and how it should be)
 

Soot and Stars

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Re: Glen Hansard and Marketa Inglova

And The Other Gems

When Your Minds Made Up (Swell Season 2006)


When Your Minds Made Up (The Frames)


When Your Minds Made Up (Once Film Version)


Lies (Swell Season 2006)


Lies (Once Film Version)
 

Soot and Stars

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Re: Glen Hansard and Marketa Inglova

Marketa and "Once"
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These are two songs written by and largely dominated by Marketa Irglova. She is such a haunting presence. The Hill is chilling!

If You Want Me


The Hill
 

Soot and Stars

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Re: Glen Hansard and Marketa Inglova

Covers
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Glen has done some great covers with and without Marketa! True songwriters find the spirit of a song, inhibit it and make it their own! Definitely holds true here! :grinthumb

Glen Hansard and Marketa Inglova-Into The Mystic
(Original by Van Morrison, Once Soundtrack)



Glen Hansard-Everytime (Original by Britney Spears)
(Brillliiiiiaaaannnt Cover, Draws Every bit of Beautiful Potential Out Of A Pop Song)



Glen Hansard-Cry Me A River
(Original by Justin Timberlake by request from audience)

 

Soot and Stars

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Re: Glen Hansard and Marketa Inglova

The most recent work, the duo officially titled The Swell Season, released this 2009 album:

Strict Joy
SwellSeason_StrictJoy.gif

Before the making of this album the duo had been seperated as a couple but not as musicians. The chemistry was still their even after parting romantically and the songs personal nature about the current relationship makes for a great authentic songwriting!

Here are my favorites from the album:

Low Rising
(Love this song and video)


In These Arms


High Horses
 

Soot and Stars

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Re: Glen Hansard and Marketa Inglova Are The Swell Season

This vid for Once describes why I like it without normally being a fan of musicals. :grinthumb

Glen Hansard, Marketa Irglova and John Carney talk "Once"
 

Soot and Stars

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This Swell Season song is GREAT! :grinthumb It has everything: a dark moody atmospherem dense piano, rustic acoustic strumming and a gorgeous orchestrated build! :)

Drown Out
 

Kuaizi

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Killer thread Sooty!

You can really tell Glen puts his heart and soul into all of his music. It's something I can really appreciate about this music.

Song for Someone


Those are some great covers too Sooty! Just shows that that stuff really isn't all that bad, and contains some good stuff I think a lot of people would appreciate if done in a different way.
That won't stop the hate though! :grinthumb
 

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