ARTIST: The Swell Season
ALBUM: Strict Joy
YEAR: 2009
STYLE: Contemporary Folk, Singer-Songwriter
ORIGIN: Ireland/Czech Republic
COMMENTS: Cuts deep and quite possible grasps the mantle, if only for a moment, of best break-up album ever, this third release from the duo of Frames front-man Glen Hansard with his beautiful Irish busker's tragic vocals, and the young Czech piano songstress with the voice of a ghostly angel.These two come together for an album that chronicles the falling out of love for one another, but leaves the door open for an amazing song-writing career for both individuals. From the Van Morrison composition and Hansard "chill sessions" of Low Rising, to the startlingly introspective Two Tongues, which reminds the avid Frames fan of the ambient, electronic chronicle of some depressing shades of grey in "For The Birds", and much of the same in the closer Back Broke.But influences across this album are hard to keep a grip on, because they get lost in the magnificent expression and crippling emotions on display. Fantasy Man remains a personal favourite, with Marketa Irglova on leads haunting her way into your heart; The Verb drowns in Sufjan Stevens ecstasy; and High Horses rocks out like no song about bitterness ever could have previously.While the album is consistently different and lets itself sprawl, so to speak, it also struggles with the task of sounding particularly new, and while it succeeds in virtually every aspect, it may not sound to some like it's gone far enough. Maybe they haven't changed enormously musically in the time that they changed enormously as people. That can't be viewed as a shame though, this music is too good for that.
