“There are lots of situations where you’ve stood up for me,” Glen Hansard says thoughtfully, turning to face his musical counterpart and ex-lover, Marketa Irglova.
Hasnard and Irglova are the stars of the hit independent film “Once”, which features their famous duet “Falling Slowly” that won Best Original Song at the Academy Awards in 2008.
They have since recorded an album called Strict Joy after a poem by James Stephens about the artist’s ability to make grief beautiful under the band name, The Swell Season. Their band name is based on a novel of the same title, about love and loss in Nazi occupied Czechoslovakia and was released this October with a subsequent concert at Massey Hall in November. If you missed them last fall, you will have another chance to see them when they play at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre July 12.
I sat down with Glen and Marketa to discuss their film, their Academy Award, and their performance style.
Although their new album was recorded shortly after the two split-up last spring, the songs it features are solid evidence of their sustained friendship and musical relationship.
Hansard was in an Irish alternative rock band, The Frames, for a decade before meeting the Czechoslovakian Irglova. Her father booked a Frames show in her hometown, and Glen discovered a musical connection with the young piano player.
An ex-Frames member, John Carney, was the screenwriter and director of “Once”. He came up with a basic story for the film, structuring it primarily around Glen and Marketa’s songs. Glen recommended Marketa for the part, and Carney cast her after seeing that her musical gifts outweighed her lack of acting experience.
Marketa, despite her lack of dramatic experience, managed to hold her own in the role: bringing practicality and spirit to the heart-wrenching film. And though the film draws heavily from her musical expression, Marketa explains that it was not purely autobiographical, citing a scene in “Once” in which she drives a hard bargain with a studio owner.
“I would have never bargained that way about money,” she admits.
“You do have a straight-talking aspect about you,” Glen interjects, surveying her quiet mannerisms, “Maybe you are closer to her than you think.”
“Well, yes I have no problem speaking up for someone, like if they are being mistreated,” Marketa continues, picking up the dialogue with easy familiarity.
They began dating around the time of the film wrapped up, when they were on set in Dublin. Shot for only $15,000, the film went on to take over $10 million at US box offices. Before winning the Oscar for Best Song, the movie itself won Best Foreign Film at the Independent Spirit Awards, and won the Audience Award for World Cinema at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.
“Even being nominated for the Oscar was definitely not on our list of goals,” Marketa says, “I mean, we were confident of the song and proud of having written it.”
Glen adds: “It’s a tricky emotional place to be in […]It’s something like 80 people, deciding who should win the most. We felt irked at having to compete […] it was a strange thing.”
“—we tried to take it as it came, and to enjoy it,” Marketa continues. “We were not at all emotionally invested in the idea of winning. We were full of joy…”
“—and that outweighed any shadow of doubt or fear,” Glen remarks. They easily fall into the pattern of alternating speech, speaking easily with the intimacy expected of ex-lovers.
“And the energy of the Oscars…” Marketa trails off, her face alight with the memory, “You wake up on the day, and get all dressed up to go, and you just feel so giddy, amazed and bright—”
“—buoyant and charged,” Glen completes.
At the awards, host Jon Stewart invited Marketa back onstage to make her speech, after they ran out of time when Glen had spoken. “It was so confusing,” says Marketa of the experience. “As I was leaving they all said, ‘No, wait, wait, you might be able to go back on.’ I thought, maybe I’ll go back onstage and say something to the crowd. I didn’t expect them to actually broadcast it, and when I realized I was going to be saying this to the millions of viewers, and not just in the commercial break, I was very surprised.”
“I just knew I had to say something to let people know they could do it too. When you are struggling, and you hear someone who made it say that you can make it, you don’t want to give up. You need inspiration to know you can follow your dreams.”
It is this nurturing and warm-hearted nature that creates the unique attitude that the Swell Season have towards fans and the media. After so much success, they are still surprisingly down-to-earth.
“We were so happy when the film made it so big, and when we have continued to have such success since, with the new album, it has just been amazing. But you know, knock on wood,” Glen said, literally rapping his fist on the table.
Glen called playing at Massey Hall, “The stuff of dreams”, and the band was overjoyed to play Radio City Music Hall for the second time. Glen transforms the passive element of a big concert hall by guiding the audience in how to sing the chorus of a few songs throughout the show, although many know all their songs by heart already.
“Music is all about connection, so when people come to our shows knowing only a few songs, then they will still feel included. That magic—not that I’m saying our music is magic—comes from everyone feeling part of it. It’s not like ‘Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova’, we’re just musicians you can sing with.”
Swell Season plays the Queen Elizabeth Theatre July 12.
