Every once in a while I stumble upon a new artist who catches me by surprise and sneaks into my heart. That’s what happened this weekend as I spent hours listening to, watching and reading everything I could find having to do with The Swell Season. Actually it all started last week, when I was tipped off that some band I never heard of did a nice cover of Neutral Milk Hotel‘s “Two-headed boy”:
The Swell Season covers Neutral Milk Hotel
I was more than a little impressed, and so this weekend decided to check these cats out. Apparently this duo of Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová starred together in a little independent movie called Once that made quite a big splash in the U.S. the year I was living in relative isolation in rural Mexico. In any event, I had simply never heard of The Swell Season, and so for me they were a totally new discovery. I haven’t had time to rent the movie yet, but I’ve been blown away by their music and their whole vibe in general. Of course Markéta has me completely under her spell, but really it’s Hansard with whom I feel a special kindred-spirit type of connection. His eloquent descriptions of his creative process are uncannily familiar, as if we’ve been to the same place, drank from the same well, seen through the same eyes. He’s also just turned 40, and I’m mere three months from the same milestone. Part of me is looking for validation that the creative well doesn’t have to dry up as I let go of my youth. For whatever reason, I’m incredibly inspired by the two of them, and feeling grateful to have discovered them at this point in time.
In These Arms from banjo bandstand on Vimeo.