Swell Season Talk Sex, Success, Staying Grounded

10/16/09 4:17pm

by Siobhan Ozege (CHARTattack)

Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova of The Swell Season never set out to become famous musicians.

With their second album Strict Joy up for release Oct. 27, the two seem humble and surprised there's any anticipation surrounding its release at all. In fact, the two seem unfazed and completely surprised at their fortune.

The two are most well known for their work on the Oscar-winning film Once, and two have promised a much different sound on this album, having teamed up with Hansard's band The Frames to create a more eclectic sound.

"It was lovely going in with the boys," says Irglova. "We took them on board for the tour before we took them into the studio and it created a lovely dynamic on stage, because before we were playing all these big rooms and we couldn't really play them just the two of us."

The duo are handling the pressure of trying to produce a follow-up album very well.

"I think if we had gone in — honestly, and I'm not being a smart ass — to try and make the Once soundtrack again, I think we would have failed," maintains Hansard. "Because we're not there. So, it would have been a desperate failure."

The Swell Season's second record is just as much a happy accident as their first collaboration. Working with Peter Katis (The National, Interpol) on the new songs came together almost accidentally.

"We went up there and we weren't expecting to make a record, we just went in, and we started recording the songs we'd been playing on tour... and then we realized we were in the middle of making a second record. We never set out to write those songs, to gather the songs and see what we had. The whole thing just came sort of naturally. It was a very easy birth."

The collaborative project seems to have no certain path charted, both parties unsure where it will go, and what form it will take.

"Maybe as the name suggests it will be a short-lived, wonderful summer and that will be that," says Hansard.

For now, he's glad to be experiencing success and good fortune after many years struggling to reach the spotlight. After all, winning an Oscar for the song "Falling Slowly" is a bit of a career bump.

"After 17 years of struggling in a band, all I knew was struggle," says Hansard. "So when success came I struggled with success I [didn't] know what to do with it and Mara's like, 'Look Glen. If you flirt with success, don't be surprised if it offers you sex.'

"Which was an amazing quote at the time, and it is actually a very grounding quote. It's like: you want this, accept this, take a holiday, crack a bottle of champagne, get some perspective and get back to work."

You can catch The Swell Season on tour supporting their forthcoming release here:

Nov.1 Milwaukee, WI @ The Pabst
Nov. 2 Indianapolis, IN @ Clownes Theatre
Nov. 3 Toronto, ON @ Massey Hall
Nov. 4 Montreal, QC @ Olympia
Nov. 6 Boston, MA @ Berklee Performing Arts Centre
Nov. 7 Providence, RI @ Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel
Nov. 8 Philidelphia, PA @ Merriam
Nov. 9 Washington, DC @ Nightclub 9:30
Nov. 12 New Orleans, LA @ House of Blues
Nov. 13 Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live
Nov. 14 Dallas, TX @ Palladium
Nov.15 Austin, TX @ The Paramount
Nov. 17 Mesa, AZ @ Mesa Arts
Nov. 18 Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern
Nov. 20 San Francisco, CA @ The Paramount
Nov. 22 Seattle, WA @ The Paramount
Nov. 23 Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
Nov. 25 Vancouver, BC @ Centre For the Performing Arts
Nov. 27 Boise, ID @ Egyptian
Nov. 28 Salt Lake City, UT @ Jeanne Wagner Theatre
Nov. 29 Denver, CO @ The Ogden Theatre
Nov. 30 Kansas City, MO @ Uptown Theatre
Dec. 3 Chicago, IL @ Auditorium Theater
Dec. 4 St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant
Dec. 5 Minneapolis, MN @ The State Theatre