I picked up Glen Hansard's new solo album. Kind of an impulse thing, while waiting for my coffee at the local Starbucks (No, Mark, I don't get all of my music from Starbucks!). Hansard is an Irish singer-songwriter who is featured in the 2006 indie film Once. I was impressed enough by his vocal style and songwriting talent to keep tabs on him since I saw the movie. The music for this film was mostly written by Hansard in collaboration with lover-turned-friend Marketa Irglova. The movie has since become a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical. I like all of the songs from the movie, but my favourite one is Broken Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy.
Hansard dropped out of school at an early age and was busking the streets of Dublin when he was 13. I am attracted to singers with big voices (the opening sequence of Once features him singing a song alone on the street, in true busker style, with enough power to reach the far end of Ireland) but his most recent release, Rhythm and Repose, is more like a smolder than a barn burner. This isn't a turn off, though, as the songs presented are solidly written. The orchestrations are particularly nice, and we do hear a bit of what he's capable of in the tracks High Hope and Bird of Sorrow. The rest of the album just seethes.
With Irglova, he's half of The Swell Season, and he's guitarist and singer for the Irish band, The Frames.
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