THE
JOURNAL
MUSIC 2025
There was a time when Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová were everywhere without trying to be. Two musicians who met in the margins, fell in love in real life, and carried that raw, unfiltered spark into Once, a scrappy indie film that became a cultural touchstone. The film’s song, Falling Slowly, earned them an Academy Award for Best Original Song but, more than that, they gave the world a melody that felt like something intimate left playing on an open window caught by anyone lucky enough to be passing by. Once would later become a Tony Award–winning Broadway musical with its story echoing far beyond the screen.
In the time since, both have forged distinct creative paths. Glen has continued his soul-driven songwriting and tireless touring. Markéta has built a luminous solo career, composing and recording her own work. They have the kind of connection that outlives its own headlines. They speak of time, transformation, and the persistence of creating without pressure. Their new album, Forward, isn't a comeback — it’s a continuation. Made with family, longtime friends, and a patience earned over years apart, the record doesn’t chase former glory. It rests in something gentler: mutual understanding, matured artistry, and the beauty of making music with someone who knows your scars.
What remains between them is friendship and fluency. It’s a shared language built from harmony, heartbreak, and healing. And in the soft light of reunion, The Swell Season proves that while some stories end, others just take a breath, and begin again. It’s living proof that music, like love, doesn’t need to stay the same to stay true.
After more than a decade apart, what called you back to The Swell Season?
GLEN: I suppose the answer to that is really friendship and getting to see Mar again. I was in Los Angeles, and I was missing her, and I sent her a message and just said, do you want to do some gigs? Because I know that gigs are probably the best way for musicians to meet. And Mar's response was very positive, and so we booked a short run — kind of summer festivals in America. Very easy, very enjoyable. And that ended up being very creative.
You know, sound checks are a very interesting kind of liminal space where music steps forward and songs sort of arrive and reveal themselves. So there was a lot of songs kind of appearing, and there's something about playing music alone, and something about that shared experience of both swimming out into the depths and seeing what you come back with. Sometimes, you know, you have to go so far out to find a song that you actually can't do it, because there's other things in your life that hold you closer to shore, like Christy (Glen’s son). And so, having that moment with Mar out on the road, we were kind of able to swim out into the depths a bit and find some new music.
And, of course, we got excited about recording it, and we recorded it with no expectations — and it became this record, Forward, that we made. So what really, to answer the question, drew me back was friendship. You know, it's amazing how the years slip by when you're busy and you're touring. The years go by, and before you know it, it's 10, 12, 14, 15 years. But it was great to get back out and great to do it, and the gigs have remained among my favourites.
Looking back now, how does the Once chapter - the Oscar, the Broadway show- sit with you? Does it feel like a surreal detour or a defining moment?
MARKÉTA: Definitely a defining moment. Had it not been for meeting Glen, for being in Once, for the Oscars and the Broadway show, my life would be very different today. I would not have had the same kind of opportunities and experiences, not enjoyed the financial freedom I had, not met some of the most important people in my life today, and I probably wouldn’t be doing music for a living now. Some things are simply meant to be, and this was it for me. I will always be grateful.
What did time apart teach you about your partnership, creatively or personally?
MARKÉTA: It taught me about the kind of energy each of us carries in our own right, and why it works so well to combine them. It taught me that pursuing our own creative paths is essential for us both, but we will always be more together than we are apart.
Did coming back together feel like picking up where you left off or did it feel like meeting again for the first time?
MARKÉTA: For me it felt like both. Creatively speaking, I felt like we were picking up where we left off, using the same language, the same creative flow, throwing ideas between us, responding to one another musically, challenging each other lyrically, and encouraging each other to work on and finish the ideas that resonated with us.
But on a personal level, it was perhaps somewhat different. All those years ago when we started, I had very little musical experience, as well as life experience, which corresponded with the level of my confidence, or the lack there of. I didn’t really understand back then what I brought to the table, what I had to offer, and why I was even there besides helping Glen fulfill his destiny.
Is there a song of yours that changed meaning for you over time, like something you didn’t fully understand until years after writing it?
GLEN: I guess they all do, because we're constantly singing from the perspective we're standing in. And so they all change, all the time. And yet the words… well, the words actually sometimes change too. Sometimes you write a lyric and you’re just kind of never quite satisfied with it when you wrote it. And then, you know, 10 years later, you just go, ‘click,’ something just changes in the lyric, and you go, ‘Ah, that's what I was trying to get at.’ Back then, a lot of The Swell Season songs were — unlike a lot of my own songs, or maybe songs of The Frames — written quite quickly. And that's one of the things I've enjoyed with making music with Mar, that we tend to kind of sketch things out quite quickly. Mar’s a great woman for sort of going, “Right, that lyric sounds good, let's go, let's move on.” Whereas I tend to sit with my songs for a long time and just kind of try to get a sort of level of meaning in them that I'm really satisfied with. But I actually really like Mar’s approach — it's not that it's “first thought, best thought,” but it's like, ‘this is working, let's sing this and we go.’
So yeah, the meaning is always changing, and it's always the same. And, as a musician, that makes sense to me, because you have to stand in the present with your song. If you're singing it only from the perspective of the time you wrote it, then the song serves you no longer, and you move on. And there are some songs like that — there are songs that are written in a particular moment, and they're written for that moment, and they don't live beyond that moment. You don't know that when you're writing it, but it's true. Whereas there are other songs that are written, and they might seem just as fleeting in terms of their idea, but 15 years later, I'm still singing that song with the same amount of investment.
Something like Falling Slowly, a song that you would imagine we'd be sort of tired of singing, I still really love playing that song, because I'm still finding meaning in it the whole time — a new meaning in it — and still finding the spirit of it as I go. So, yeah, I would say they're all changing, and they're all the same. In the same way a forest is changing the whole time, and it's always the same to look at. It's the same thing. I trust that stuff.
What felt different about making this new album compared to your earlier work together?
MARKÉTA: It felt like we came together as two equals this time. We also had our families around us, which I found very grounding and supportive. My husband, Mio, was working on the project with us as the engineer and producer, and we had our dear friends join us in the studio, so it really felt like a family gathering in the larger sense, bringing a profound comfort and ease to the process.
People always say heartbreak makes the best songs… do you agree? Or is there something else that cracks a song open for you?
MARKÉTA: Any song that comes from the heart, and from a place of truth, will have a potent vibration. It is said that the crack is how the light gets in. I think that is as true for the heart as any other thing. I think heartbreak songs are powerful because, in their essence, they are about separation and the pain that comes from that. That is a deep existential wound that we carry all our lives, a pain everyone knows and can resonate with. For the same reason, songs about love, hope, faith, and devotion can be as potent, offering a way out of that feeling and toward what we most long for.
Is there a piece of advice you received early in your career that still guides you now?
GLEN: Yeah, I guess I got a bit of advice when I was younger… I was signed to Island Records, and Chris Blackwell — he was the boss of Island Records at the time — and I remember him just saying, it's just music, you know, and Ireland is your home. Enjoy music, and try not to make it too political, ever, in your mind. Just always remember that it's just music. He said, you’re a street musician, you're playing music for the joy of it. Of course there's commerce and everything else, but I've always tried to treat, when I'm actually just playing, as a very free place, and not a place loaded with thoughts of one's career and social climbing, or whatever that term might be. But just that it's a place of freedom and a place of possibility.
One of the things that we always say before we go on stage to each other is, “it's only music, and it's just a gig,” and as long as you keep that attitude, you might just hit upon something beautiful up there. I think the mistake people make is they feel like they want to put on the best gig, and they rehearse and rehearse and rehearse, and then they go on stage and play what they've rehearsed, and I think that can be a little bit suppressed, or a bit repressed, and I think where the real magic is, is when you go on stage and it's as new to you as it is to the audience. You know what you're going to do, of course, you know what songs you're going to do, but you just kind of stay in the moment as much as possible and let that flow. So it's not even advice, it's more of a statement: it's only music. But it has served me well, and served us well.
MARKÉTA: My dad took me aside in the very beginning and told me to prepare myself for the fact that I was getting to come along on an adventure, but that, like all adventures, this one too would end. It was an effort to protect me, to manage my expectations. I don’t think he could have imagined just how great an adventure it would turn out to be, but his advice was crucial nonetheless. It helped me to enjoy it for what it was, and, knowing it wouldn’t last forever from the start, it helped me stay present for it. I still practice that to this day.
In a world that feels heavy at times, what gives you hope?
MARKÉTA: Small acts of kindness.
Are there any causes or charities close to your heart that you wish people talked about more?
MARKÉTA: I think we can all find one to get behind, one we trust. The most important thing is that when we give, we give from the heart.
What’s the last song (not your own) that stopped you in your tracks or resonated deeply in you?
MARKÉTA: The last one was only recently, a song called Never The Same by Jana Diab. I heard it in an episode of The Buccaneers with my daughter. I just listened to it again now while I am writing, and it still resonates deeply.
What has the road been teaching you so far on this tour, and what can fans look forward to next?
MARKÉTA: It has taught me that sometimes you get a second shot at something, when you least expect it. I don’t know what’s next, hopefully more music.
Check out theswellseason.com for music and tour dates
+ glenhansard.com and marketairglova.com for their solo projects