Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová first teamed up in 2005 and released a self-titled debut the following year.
That record was followed by Once, a film which permanently altered their creative and personal lives. Written and directed by John Carney, the film is a fictionalized version of their own relationship, built around evocative songs and a shoestring sensibility that often feels like spying on the main characters (simply named Girl and Guy).
The soundtrack, brimming with romantic, melodic tunes, not least of which was the aching “Falling Slowly” (a track which won the pair an Oscar for best original song in 2007), only intensified the whirl.
What was a fantasy became a reality, briefly, when Hansard and Irglová became a couple just after the making of the film during its promotion across the United States. By 2009, they were no longer together. That split may have naturally contributed to the last Swell Season album (Strict Joy) being released that year, and the two musicians going their separate ways.
Each artist continued touring and recording, and enjoyed success individually in the interim between 2009’s Strict Joy and this year’s Forward, the pair’s third studio album. Irglová released a trio of solo albums — most recently 2022’s Lila — got married, had three children and built a studio.
Hansard, who also married and became a parent in the 16-year gap between Swell Season records, recorded and toured behind a string of solo albums (up to and including 2023’s All That Was East is West of Me Now), and even fit in a brief Frames reunion in 2015.
As casually as Hansard and Irglová drifted apart, so did they casually return to their collaboration. The studio Irglová built in her new home in Iceland became the site where the Swell Season wrote, improvised and recorded the songs that would become Forward.
"It felt right to title the record Forward because it's a reunion of sorts, but we're not going backwards," Irglová said in a press release. "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 added. "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 Markéta 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.”
That album spawned an extensive world tour, which will bring the duo back to Dallas and the Majestic Theatre on Sept. 12, for its first headlining performance in more than 15 years.
It’s remarkable to listen to the eight-song Forward, and behold the pair’s chemistry more or less undiminished by time’s passage. Rare enough is the act that can sustain its inspiration this deep into its existence, and rarer still the act that can withstand the application of genuine emotion and human feeling to its artistry. (More often, love and art tend to result in things like Fleetwood Mac, where any semblance of passion eventually curdles into resentment.)
Still, it’s moving to hear Irglová and Hansard sing together once more. Their voices are somewhat shadowed with age but also deepened with experience, the accrual of life lived apart from one another.
An early highlight is “The People We Used to Be,” a matter-of-fact backward glance that features the musicians trading verses. This work is all the more devastating for its casual observations: “We’re both different now, and times have changed / Even the best of friends can become estranged,” Irglová sings, as Hansard’s voice slips in alongside hers on the chorus.
“People” and, indeed, all of Forward is bruising in its beauty — an unspoken acknowledgment of what was and what is.To behold two individuals whose union yields such exquisite, lovingly crafted songs, who are able to navigate the changes life holds for us all, and emerge on the other side, still bound together by an affection more platonic than romantic, is to have your faith restored in the boundless possibilities of art.
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, move forward.
David Turecky
The Swell Season will perform on Friday, Sept. 12, at 8 p.m. at The Majestic Theatre, 1925 Elm St. Tickets are available starting at $59 on Ticket Squeeze.
