I just bought Strict Joy by The Swell Season (Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova) today and man, what a lovely little album. I really, really encourage you to fork over the extra $2 and get the Deluxe Edition because it included about 12 live recordings of old and new songs, some of which are just heartbreakingly beautiful. On a live rendition of "Falling Slowly" (which I thought I had heard played to death), Glen and Marketa allow an 8th grade choir on stage, and the results are simply magical. Actually, every little story that Glen and Marketa tell between songs on this CD is magical; stories about ghosts or love and life or letting go of shit... It's almost as if in a short hour and a half, they give you some of the best therapy and life advice you could ever have. Makes me think they picked a pretty brilliant title for this EP :)
All of the ideas and notions behind Strict Joy are openly expressed in the new music video for "Low Rising", this EPs first single. Glen Hansard has quite the expression-filled mug., don't you thinkg? So sad, those eyes are! Spinner says, "The duo... finds themselves going through their daily motions in the video -- eating eggs and toast, putting the tea kettle on the stove -- with a literal cloud over their heads that's silently infiltrating everything they do. The visualization matches the song's heavy yet hopeful tone when in the end, they step outside and see it's raining on everything and not just them. A smile and an embrace make it seem like things will be all right after all, and the feeling of enchantment returns."
See? So much therapy in one simple song.
All of the ideas and notions behind Strict Joy are openly expressed in the new music video for "Low Rising", this EPs first single. Glen Hansard has quite the expression-filled mug., don't you thinkg? So sad, those eyes are! Spinner says, "The duo... finds themselves going through their daily motions in the video -- eating eggs and toast, putting the tea kettle on the stove -- with a literal cloud over their heads that's silently infiltrating everything they do. The visualization matches the song's heavy yet hopeful tone when in the end, they step outside and see it's raining on everything and not just them. A smile and an embrace make it seem like things will be all right after all, and the feeling of enchantment returns."
See? So much therapy in one simple song.
Enjoy!
