The Swell Season
Forward out 6/13/25
When 16 years have passed since the release of their beloved duo’s previous album, 2009’s Strict Joy, it might be expected that Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová would title a new collection of The Swell Season songs as something commemorative or reflective instead of the succinct Forward. But, as anyone who has followed their career will tell you, The Swell Season doesn’t exactly do things the typical way.
First formed by Hansard–then best known as the frontman of Irish rock band The Frames–and Czech pianist and singer Irglová in 2005, The Swell Season released a self-titled LP in 2006 before going on to star in and perform their songs in the film Once. Much-loved and critically praised, the movie catapulted them into the spotlight, and earned the duo the 2007 “Best Original Song” Academy Award for “Falling Slowly” before being adapted into a Tony-winning Broadway smash. Yet they have never spent much time looking back. So when the longtime friends decided amid their respective solo careers to officially reconvene for a handful of Swell Season shows in 2022, it led to not only a larger run of dates in 2023 but a recording session as well. A single, “The Answer Is Yes,” encouraged the pair to converge again in Irglová’s Iceland studio to write a new album in 2024, and from there, well, it seemed there was only one direction for The Swell Season to go.
“It felt right to title the record ‘Forward’ because it’s a reunion of sorts, but we’re not going backwards,” Irglová says. “Both of us have grown and changed; we’re in different places and getting to know each other again as the new people we’ve become.”
“After our whirlwind that led up to the Oscars and after, we were so busy and with that came a pressure that neither of us particularly wanted, and ultimately we kind of drifted in the middle of all of that hard work and celebration,” Hansard says. “We remained good friends, helping on each other’s records, keeping up with each other’s families. While touring my last record, I realized I just missed her. I remember calling Marketa and saying, ‘Do you feel like doing some gigs?’ She said, ‘Yeah, that sounds great,’ and the shows went really well. Once we were hanging out again, new songs started coming through, and we started trying new ideas and playing the songs onstage. From there the idea was to do a little recording and not put any pressure on it, just see what happens, and suddenly we found ourselves making a record. And we were both totally into it, and so here we are, a new chapter of our lives.”
The pair started working through song ideas they had written independently, choosing pieces that could benefit from the other’s touches, while some were composed entirely on the spot, seizing on the inspiration of their shared space. The synergy of their dynamic returned instantly–like turning on a tap–with Irglová seated at the piano and Hansard on his guitar; Hansard, who doesn’t typically set out to write intentionally for any specific project, found that Irglova’s ability to “call (him) out, artistically” and keep things on task really helped him to dial in on what the song required in the context of The Swell Season. “We serve as a mirror to each other, like playing catch; it’s so interactive, like sparks hitting off each other,” Irglová says. “It’s almost like alchemy; we pass this through the sieve of our experiences and who we are as people. I really respect Glen as an artist and a writer and I love writing and performing with him.” Masterkey Studios, located above her home outside of Reykjavik, where she lives with her husband, the producer Sturla Mio Thorisson, and their three children, hosted both the recording as well as the entertaining. Irglová insisted on taking up the cooking duties for the party, which also included Hansard’s wife and son (who live with Hansard in Helsinki), the original Swell Season musicians Marja Gaynor and Bertrand Galen (strings) and Joseph Doyle (bass), and newcomer Piero Perelli (drums and percussion).
With the intention of keeping things succinct, Hansard and Irglová walked away after three different sessions with eight songs decided on for Forward, an album that manages to capture both the familiar heartrending, joyous emotions and moments of beauty we have come to love from The Swell Season, as well as new slice-of-life, where-are-we-now chapters still being determined and understood. There is space to move around in these songs, and enough air to let the listener settle in and appreciate the loveliness–and, above all, a measured, harmonious balance. Where Hansard’s tendency is to keep things rough and raw, stripped-down and grainy, Irglová’s songs move more into the lush, polished, cinematic world; the duo challenged themselves to find each song’s meeting-point while always staying true to each other’s intentions.
On the opener “Factory Street Bells,” Hansard strums and sings about his new son while Irglová adds chiming piano; the jazzy march of “Great Weight” manages to move and groove with optimism and positivity; “People We Used To Be” serves as an emblem of their own journeys through the eyes of anyone reflecting on a past relationship. Both singers recognized the irony of a Hansard-penned tune called “Stuck in Reverse” appearing on an album titled thusly, so Irglová added a second verse to round out the sentiment (“Not able to move on? Then go.”). Through it all, the group’s thesis statement remains as strong and unwavering as ever: never, ever give up; keep going, no matter how hard. In other words: Forward.
Despite the time apart, things once again seem to have fallen right back into place. “We’ve still been in each other’s lives, we’ve just been living different lives,” Hansard says. “As a touring musician, 16 years goes by in a flash, so we’re checking in and being creative again with an old dance partner. As for the future, we’re just gonna enjoy this, we’re really happy to do a bit of touring this year and see how it goes. It’s a nice idea.”
“We’re not going back to anything, we’re tapping back into a common thread between us but we’re approaching it as different people,” Irglová adds. “We’re going forward together, with our families and our little treasure of experiences that we’ve picked up along the way.”
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