Albums to watch

Strict Joy

The Swell Season

Strict Joy

Irish musician Glen Hansard and Czech singer and pianist Markéta Irglová with a debut album of acoustic indie folk

ADM rating[?]

7.3

Label
ANTI-
UK Release date
27/10/2009
  1. 9.0 |   Sputnik Music (staff)

    This album is meant for dreary days, but it's easy to find comfort in two people who display heartache so convincingly and with such beauty
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  2. 8.0 |   Blurt

    An album of autumnal delights, it proves emphatically that indeed Once was indeed not enough
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  3. 8.0 |   The Irish Times

    This collection documents much of their picaresque adventure with grace, wit and style.
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  4. 8.0 |   Spin

    Heartache swells from these swooning folk-pop tunes, but the presence of both of the relationship's combatants ensures that they never drown in it
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  5. 8.0 |   The Sunday Times

    If Strict Joy only had two words, they would be “it’s over”. This is Hansard and Irglova’s break-up album
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  6. 8.0 |   FasterLouder

    A significant step forward for The Swell Season, it will be interesting to see where their music will go after this – but whichever direction they choose, at least we know the end result is going to be beautiful and sweet
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  7. 7.0 |   PopMatters

    These songs aren’t breaking any new ground, but they’re well written and enjoyable, and the background makes them sort of fascinating, too
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  8. 7.0 |   Rave Magazine

    Hansard hasn’t exactly cheered up, but his walking-in-the-rain compositions clearly find comfort in the arms of sympathetic collaborators
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  9. 7.0 |   Sydney Morning Herald

    It is a fuller-sounding, band-emphasised collection, with a more muscular underpinning courtesy of most of the Frames, Hansard's group

  10. 7.0 |   The Australian

    The idea of ex-lovers writing songs about each other together and separately is at least as old as Fleetwood Mac. But it does get close at times
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  11. 6.5 |   Pitchfork

    The tracks don't sound forced or awkward as they follow well-trod lyrical roads littered with wounded "you"s and "I"s, they sound honest, and an honest love song as always is hard to resist.
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  12. 6.0 |   The Line Of Best Fit

    Hansard and Irglova, given the right handling, make for a fascinating pairing but won’t find something consistently solid to call their own until they work out how best to trust their primal writing instincts
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