"Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life.” - Oscar Wilde

In the case of Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova who go by the nom de plume, The Swell Season truer words have never been spoken. For many the duo shot to fame overnight after performing on the 80th Academy Awards and taking home the Oscar for their song, “Falling Slowly” from the film Once. For others the film, the music and its two unlikely leads became a benchmark in conversations about music, art, life and movies, passed along with a secret handshake, a nod and a smile. The movie seemed to cross generational lines and spoke to anyone who had ever lost at love and life, yet still held out hope that something good was possible.

Once centered on two star-crossed musicians, him a Dublin street busker, her a pianist from eastern Europe, who in the course of a brief few weeks make a record, fall in love, decide against acting on it and go their separate ways. The film, shot in two weeks in Dublin without permits on a few handy cams, was far more art house than Hollywood, making their adventure all the more unbelievable. As buzz around the film grew so did the belief that their characters, “him” and “her” were indeed the lives of Glen and Marketa. In the public's eye, the movie had become their life, but in fact for them life was becoming something altogether unrecognizable.

“There is properly no history; only biography” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

To appreciate the music oftentimes you have to understand the artist. In the case of The Swell Season the mass of information available is probably more confusing than clarifying. What we can be sure of is that the two met thru Marketa's father, a concert promoter in the Czech Republic. Marketa, a classically trained pianist began performing with Glen's band, The Frames when in town and eventually they began to collaborate. The opportunity to write songs for the film offered them their first opportunity to work professionally together. After recording a batch of songs for the movie, the two chose to release a handful of them as their debut record, The Swell Season in Fall 2006.

Widely credited to their given names, and taking its name from a novel by Czech writer, Josef Skvorecky, they fully adopted the moniker, The Swell Season when they started performing out live. A short tour of the U.S. that fall found them playing small clubs filled with fans of Glen's band, The Frames. On a personal level the tour was a huge success. For Marketa it was the realization of being on tour, playing music and traveling the world. For Glen it was in stark contrast to his existence as a “Frame”, and creatively there were so many new possibilities with Marketa. Upon completion though it was back to work for Glen with The Frames who had a new record, The Cost to support. The two vowed to revisit The Swell Season when more time arose. That time would turn out to be after Once became the surprise hit of Sundance 2007 and won the World Audience Cinema Award.

“Sometimes you spend your whole life trying to climb over a wall, hoping to make it to the other side, only to find that by turning and walking away from it, you can walk around the whole world and eventually you'll end up on the other side. Exactly where you wanted to be in the first place.” - Glen Hansard

“If you flirt with success, don't be surprised if it offers you sex” – Marketa Irglova

The music was there first. Acting in the movie was born out of necessity otherwise the movie wouldn't have been made. The plan was always about the music's place in the movie. A broader audience is what any musician desires and the film seemed a perfect chance to bring a new audience to Glen's music, and introduce Marketa's. Miraculously the plan worked and people responded not only to the movie but the music as well.

2007 and 2008 were filled with constant movement, performing over 250 shows worldwide, being shuffled from one promo situation to the next. Though tedious and tiring, never did they take it for granted, embracing each new endeavor with excitement and gratitude. The stage became their home and their family became the band, which included members of The Frames. Each night was another victory for Glen after an on again off again twenty year battle with the music industry at large. For Marketa each day held a new experience on a journey from obscurity to notoriety.

After shows they spent countless hours with fans signing autographs, taking pictures, and hearing stories about how the movie and its music impacted someone's life. It was as magical as it was draining, as the sense of responsibility became not just playing a good shows but to also live up to these characters from the movie. The power of celluloid was on full display and it was a heavy burden to shoulder. The whole experience was being documented in the new songs the two were writing as they tried to be true to themselves and each other.

And yes somewhere along the way they become a couple like in the movie. And maybe they fell in love. And out of it. Only they know. For them music is therapy and thus the birth of Strict Joy.

For, as he meditated misery and cared it into song-Strict Care, Strict Joy! - James Stephens

Strict Joy was made over a series of three sessions (August 2008 to April 2009) under the steady ear of Peter Katis (The National | Interpol). Katis came recommended by friend and sometime collaborator Thomas Bartlett (Doveman). The initial session yielded the foundation for what would become the record with every song from it making the record. “Low Rising”, “Fantasy Man”, “The Rain”, “I Have Loved You Wrong” and “In These Arms” were laid down with a few of those having been performed live regularly and so they were off and running.

The second session produced “The Verb”, “Two Tongues” and “High Horses”, and like the first session the two were joined by Frames members Colm Mac Iomaire, Joseph Doyle, Rob Bochnik and Graham Hopkins. The last session proved to be the most adventurous and helped bring the record squarely into focus. For it Glen and Mar were joined by a group of musicians they'd never played with before, Thomas being the lone exception. Thomas is quickly losing his secret weapon status in NYC having become the go to guy for Martha Wainwright, Antony and the Johnsons and The National, along with his own project Doveman. Javier Mas joined the recording after Glen blindly solicited him having witnessed his mastery on stage with Leonard Cohen. His Spanish guitar fills on tracks like “Paper Cup”, “Feeling the Pull”, “Back Broke” and “Love That Conquers” are pure trademark. Chad Taylor and Chris Lightcap made their names on the Chicago and New York jazz scenes and brought in new perspectives and a fresh energy to the record. It was this creative burst that helped bring the finishing touches to Strict Joy.

As the title implies, the windfall of good fortune was not without its consequences. Remaining firmly rooted in the time-honored themes of hope and love, heartache and loss, Strict Joy does it's best to address the impact of the last two years. In the end it may provide more questions than answers about the relationship at its center. On the rock n' roll scale of relationship records, Strict Joy seems to rest somewhere between Richard and Linda Thompson's, Shoot Out the Lights and Bob Dylan's, Blood on the Tracks.

Opening with “Low Rising”, our protagonist tries to get off on the right foot, imploring his lover to “sit down and talk, pull back the veils and find out what it is I've done wrong”. He wants to “come up” using her love as the springboard. If only things were that easy. Love is complicated. Breaking up is even more complicated. Perhaps summing it up best on “Fantasy Man” Marketa sings, “its the story of two lovers who danced both edges of the knife”. As direct an indictment on lost love as has been made in some time.

All is not lost though as the only firm resolution we have by either is to keep on trying. In the records most “Falling Slowly” type moment on “In These Arms”, together they sing, “maybe I was born to hold you in these arms.” A hopeful sentiment, that pops up throughout and truly does give heartache a run for its money. One of Strict Joy's lightest moment comes compliments of “Feeling the Pull” wherein our two leads impulsively follow nature, theirs and Mother's to “head out on the road” and get back to a simpler time. Not a bad thought in these troubled times for any of us indeed.

In the end it's doesn't matter how one may have discovered The Swell Season nor if their vested interest is the movie or the couple or even that moment at the Oscars, all that needs to be remembered is that it's still about one thing, the music. And thankfully the music is damn good.