Rhythm and Repose
Love = drama + melodrama on Glen Hansard‘s moonstruck solo debut, as it is in his songs for the breakout film-turned-musical Once, and for his bands The Frames and the Swell Season. “I want to do what’s right,” he sings on “Maybe Not Tonight,” adorably ready not to, conjuring the Seventies country-pop vibe of Glen Campbell around stock images: pretty eyes, an August night, “the long grass where we lay.” More striking are the unsettling string arrangements by a coterie of indie-rock/classical fusionists (Thomas Bartlett, Nico Muhly, Rob Moose) and a quietly riveting duet with Once co-star Markéta Irglová (“What Are We Gonna Do”). As for many of us, a woman makes all the difference.
Listen to ‘Rhythm and Repose’: