Album Review

The bond we form with art is a powerful thing. But it can also build expectations.
After I first saw the film Once starring The Swell Season's Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, I was stunned by the beauty of their music. So much so that, with the exception of "Drown Out", those songs on the band's self-titled debut that weren't in the film seemed lackluster by comparison.
Now, two years after Hansard and Irglova stole the hearts of millions with songs like "When Your Mind's Made Up" and the Oscar-winning "Falling Slowly" (both of which have appeared on The Swell Season, The Frames' The Cost and the Once soundtrack), how will the pair fare with no movie to add weight to the songs? Furthermore, how will they survive in a post-breakup relationship?
The results are disappointing, but only slightly so. While the songs on Strict Joy retain most of the elements that made previous works so endearing - Hansard's amazing vocal abilities, gorgeous harmonies, an excellent ability to create sullen atmospheres to match the lyrics - it's lacking what has made their best songs so good: angst.
Songs like "When Your Mind's Made Up", "Leave" and "Say It to Me Now" had so much heartbroken grit involved in their guitar/vocal combinations that it was impossible not to feel for Hansard. Even songs like "If You Want Me" and "The Hill" - sung by Irglova - had so much ache in them that they stood well beside Hansard's cries.
Having broken up prior to releasing this album, one could only expect the same sort of emotions to flow out of Strict Joy; instead, its songs suffer from defeat. "In These Arms", the most gorgeous song of the collection, takes its time to let you listen in on Hansard and Irglova's heartache. Subsequently, "High Horses" and "Feeling the Pull" do the exact opposite - immediately grab you and weave their tales of what may have caused the pair to part ways.
What separates this album most is the use of Hansard's Frames band mates. The songs are thicker, more lush, and as such, require less dynamics from their vocalist. Which is probably what makes this album feel as though it's lacking something. Hansard has one of the most impressive ranges in the business right now, and this album fails to showcase that.
That aside, this album has more than enough to fall back in love with.
Once a hero, always a hero.
-Matthew Hadley