Tag: The Swell Season

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Red Chord

A sleepy version of a song by Glen Hansard of The Swell Season and The Frames. I just discovered Hansard a couple of weeks ago and since then I can’t stop listening to the guy’s music. I’m just blown away by the soulfulness and sincerity of the man, and I’m inspired to play and create like I haven’t been in years. Thanks Glen! (I tried to keep this version of the song mellow, so as not to piss the neighbors off too much, but I doubt I’m even capable of belting out those “Yeahs” like Hansard does. Perhaps some day…)

RED CHORD (on The Frames’ album “Fitzcarraldo”)
And I’m pulling on the red chord
That pulls you back to me Lord
It helps me out
When you’re away

When I was in the army
And they called you back to save me
And I was resting soft
In the arms of my war

And I’m pulling on the red chord
That pulls you back to me Lord
And I’m pulling on the red chord
So you’re not so far away

And I was at the uni..
The university of
Blind love and black poetry
And it was there I found you
And you were happy like an angel
But for everything you learned
There is something you must let go of

And I’m pulling on the red chord
That pulls you back to me Lord
And I’m pulling on the red chord
That pulls you back to me Lord

Pulls you back to me Lord
Yeah, pulls you back to me Lord
Pulls you back to me Lord
Yeah, pulls you back to me Lord

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The Swell Season

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.