James Arden checks out the garage rockers latest album.
The Christian rock band from Brighton bring religion to the masses.
Recipe for modern R'n'B album: liberal helpings of guest rappers and an overdose of sexual euphemisms.
Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová charmed audiences in 2007 with their performances in the modern Irish musical Once, and their song ‘Falling Slowly’ won them a well-deserved Oscar. At the time, a lot of press attention focused on their burgeoning romantic relationship off-screen. Two years later, they are no longer together romantically, a fact that it is difficult to forget when listening to Strict Joy, their second album together as The Swell Season.
The opening track, ‘Low Rising’, is a personal highlight, as it represents Hansard’s (pretty successful) attempt to pen a track that could fit into Van Morrison’s Moondance, an album that means more to me than I could even begin to describe. Other highlights include ‘In These Arms’, ‘Fantasy Man’, which showcases Irglová’s vulnerable vocals beautifully, and ‘Back Broke’, the album’s haunting final track.
Hansard and Irglová have serious chemistry, with her fragile vocal complementing his rougher voice. The hurt that pervades Strict Joy is palpable, and having both halves of the relationship on the album makes lines such as “And the force that swept us both away/Was too strong for us to fight” all the more powerful. As a result, the intimacy of the sadness on display is utterly beguiling.
The ‘Deluxe Edition’ of the album comes with a CD of live performance, including tracks from the album. I’d heartily recommend it, particularly for ‘What Happens When the Heart Just Stops’ (including Hansard’s introduction to the song , especially the very funny longer version on Spotify) and Irglová’s take on ‘All The Way Down’, one of my absolute favourite songs from Once.
A brilliant follow-up to their eponymous debut album and the staggering success of Once, Strict Joy is both heartbreaking and utterly captivating, and I truly cannot recommend it highly enough. Strict Joy is available now.
You must log in to submit a comment.
