Album Review: The Swell Season - ‘Forward’
Forward, is a graceful, heartfelt return that moves with tenderness, purpose, and unshakable sincerity.
Sixteen years after their last studio release, Strict Joy, The Swell Season, comprised of Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, return not with a nostalgic glance backward, but with a gentle, radiant push Forward. Their long-awaited third LP is not only a testament to their enduring artistic bond but a graceful exploration of growth, reconnection, and quiet resilience. And it couldn’t feel more timely or more timeless.
From the moment opener “Factory Street Bells” unfolds, there's a tender clarity that welcomes listeners back into the duo’s world with open arms. Hansard’s vocals are as weathered and heartfelt as ever, singing about fatherhood and the passage of time, while Irglová’s delicate piano lines ring like church bells in a foggy dawn. It’s both a reintroduction and a reassurance: the chemistry is intact, matured, and somehow even more affecting.
The aptly titled Forward isn’t weighed down by expectation or the weight of the past. Instead, it's carried by a newfound lightness, evidenced most clearly in the luminous track “Great Weight”. There’s a rhythmic propulsion here, a groove not typically associated with The Swell Season’s more stripped-down roots. Yet it fits perfectly, underscoring Hansard’s lyric about releasing struggle and welcoming whatever comes next. Irglová’s accompanying video, co-directed with Sturla Mio Thorisson, beautifully captures this sense of spiritual release and transition.
“Stuck In Reverse” and “People We Used To Be”, both pre-release singles, are masterclasses in balance where Hansard’s raw, almost ragged delivery meets Irglová’s cinematic grace. The former deals with emotional inertia, while the latter turns memory into a shared mirror, reflecting the bittersweet nature of time. There’s something quietly defiant in their insistence that reconnection doesn’t mean regression. As Irglová puts it, “It felt right to title the record Forward because... we’re not going backwards”.
That sentiment echoes throughout the album’s production as well. Recorded over three sessions in Irglová’s home studio in Iceland, where her family, Hansard’s own, and original Swell Season collaborators (including Marja Gaynor, Bertrand Galen, and Joseph Doyle) gathered, the album exudes warmth and intimacy. Newcomer Piero Perelli brings just the right touch of percussive energy, adding texture without ever overwhelming the duo’s intricate emotional landscapes.
There’s an organic alchemy to these songs, many of which began as solo sketches before being transformed through mutual input. Irglová has described their process as a form of creative “catch”, where ideas are tossed, shaped, and held up to the light. That mutual respect and trust radiate through the music, whether in a hushed piano interlude or a soaring crescendo.
If Forward has a thesis, it’s not in a grand statement but in a quiet commitment: keep going. Keep creating. Keep loving, even through change. And in that, it lands as both an artistic triumph and a deeply human one.
The Swell Season have never been about spectacle. Their magic lies in the spaces between notes, in glances shared across a room, in the honesty of the unvarnished moment. With Forward, they remind us beautifully and poignantly that the most powerful direction is often the one we take with open hearts and steady steps.
Words by Danielle Holian
