The two are so inextricably linked that it's easy to forget the Swell Season actually preceded Once, the little movie that rocketed Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová to global fame. For that matter, several of the songs on that film's breakthrough soundtrack precede the film, too. In fact, "Falling Slowly"-- the standout track from the film and the song that won the Swell Season its Academy Award for Best Original Song-- first appeared on the Swell Season's 2006 debut and soon after on The Cost-- the sixth album by Hansard's underdog band the Frames.
Which all goes to show the power of a prescribed narrative to trump the natural progression of a real life, though in the case of the Swell Season Hansard and Irglova have made it increasingly difficult to separate fact from fiction. The film focused on two struggling musicians falling in love, and over the course of its making and promotion Hansard and Irglova themselves did indeed become lovers. While no longer a couple, the pair continue to work together in the Swell Season, so it's hard to keep in mind that Strict Joy, the band's second album, is a sequel to its first and not, as the prescribed narrative dictates, a sequel to the film and the emotions it captured.
It is complicated, however, considering this new collection of songs of romance gone wrong and right may in fact be a musical document of an actual break-up. Or, depending on the provenance of each track, a break-up that already happened. Even separated from the impact and influence of the film, a new Swell Season album-- or Frames album, or Hansard album, or Hansard and Irglova album-- would have likely gravitated to similar themes. And yet listening to songs like the fragile, heartbreakingly intimate "In These Arms" or the lovely Irglova-led "Fantasy Man" free from the pull of Once proves impossible, though never to the disc's detriment. The tracks don't sound forced or awkward as they follow well-trod lyrical roads littered with wounded "you"s and "I"s, they sound honest, and an honest love song as always is hard to resist.
Slightly easier to ignore are jazzy, workmanlike Van Morrison nods like "Low Rising", "Feeling the Pull", and "Love That Conquers"-- not due to lack of craft or merit but simply due to the familiarity of the model. Elsewhere, when they're not sticking to gorgeously clear-eyed ballads like "Two Tongues" or "I Have Loved You Wrong", which highlight the duo's vocal chemistry, Hansard and Irglova do right with the atmospheric alt-MOR of "The Verb", "High Horses", and "The Rain", an album highlight that merges the passion of the Frames with the Swell Season's slightly gentler bent.
Now that the prescribed narrative has run its course, it'll be interesting to hear where the pair heads next (assuming they keep it up), not because what they've recorded so far is necessarily exceptional or unique, but because at this point the story is clearly bigger than the band itself. From here on out, the Swell Season is making it up as they go along, and there's no reason Strict Joy shouldn't entice all its new and old fans to come along as well.
