Review: The Swell Season - Strict Joy

If you’ve been following this blog at all, you’ve probably figured out by now that I’m something of a metalhead.  Most of the reviews I’ve written have been geared towards the heavier end of the musical spectrum.  Not one to be pigeonholed, however, I also spend a good deal of my time listening to lighter music; particularly over the last few years, I’ve been getting familiar with a wide range of indie-rock, folk-rock, post-rock, and various other hyphenated, hipster-friendly genres of music that rarely, if ever, involve screaming vocals, detuned guitars, and double-bass drums.  However, since I really haven’t been immersed in that scene for very long, I still can’t shake the feeling that I’m sort of a novice when it comes to intelligently writing about it.  Surely my opinions of a genre I’ve only been into for a couple years wouldn’t carry as much weight as my opinions on the kind of music I’ve listened to since high school.  (Of course, this assumes that any opinion I have carries any weight at all, which is a pretty tenuous concept to begin with.)  But gosh darn it, I just like the stuff, so why the hell shouldn’t I write about it?

That caveat aside, I’ll come right out and say this: one of the best albums of the past year or so is Strict Joy by indie-folk group The Swell Season.  The group’s Oscar-winning songwriting duo of Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova may have started their rise to renown as actors in the movie Once, in addition to performing most of the movie’s soundtrack, but their most recent album expands on their sound in marvelous ways.  The sheer quality of the songwriting and performances on Strict Joy proves beyond a shadow of doubt that the success of Once and its soundtrack was much more than a fluke or Hollywood-induced trend.  Hansard and Irglova - assisted by a full lineup of other musicians, some migrating from Hansard’s previous band, The Frames - are incredibly talented musicians, and possess a musical chemistry that, if there’s any justice in the world, people will be writing about and admiring for years and years to come.

It’s fairly clear that Hansard is calling most of the musical shots on Strict Joy (of the album’s twelve songs, all but two feature Hansard on lead vocals and primary songwriting credits), which is fine by me, because his writing and delivery are unfailingly excellent.  His lyrics are simple and accessible but not watered-down, and the arrangements are varied enough from one song to another to keep the listener interested throughout the album’s runtime.  Bluesy opener “Low Rising” is an immediate highlight, as well as “The Verb,” “High Horses,” “In These Arms,” and “The Rain,” to name a few.  Hearing Hansard perform these songs is akin to reading an earnest, heartfelt letter from an old friend - he aims right for the melancholic sweet spot and scores a bull’s-eye almost every time.  Irglova’s offerings are much more subdued, but don’t detract from the album in any way - if anything, they serve as a welcome break from Hansard’s methodology.  “I Have Loved You Wrong” in particular is fantastic - the bassline and faint drumbeat combine with Irglova’s just-above-a-whisper vocals to wash over you and make you feel just a little bit more at peace with the universe than you did before.  Well, maybe nothing that extreme, but hyperbole notwithstanding, it’s a truly excellent song, and yet another highlight on a very good album.  Strict Joy is the kind of listening experience that doesn’t come around often enough.  It’s the kind of record that absorbs you from the second you hit Play to the last note.  The songs are the kind of songs that inspire you to pick up a guitar and write your own.  It’s music that’s personal enough to feel intimate, while remaining accessible enough for just about anyone to relate to and be moved by.  It isn’t quite perfect - Irglova’s other featured song “Fantasy Man” and the final two tracks don’t quite reach the sublime level of most of the rest of the record - but it’s damn close.  And if nothing else, it sure was enough to melt the heart of this metal-hardened blogger.  Enthusiastically recommended.

Rating: 4.5/5

Standout Tracks:
“Low Rising”
“I Have Loved You Wrong”
“High Horses”
“The Rain”

Release Date: October 27, 2009