First recorded output in two years from acclaimed duo The Swell Season – People We Used To Be is a lush, string-enhanced epic ballad
Release Date: 28th March 2025
Label: Self release
Formats: Digital
WELCOME BACK!
It’s been a couple of years since we last heard any recorded output from acclaimed duo The Swell Season. The duo’s previous single, The Answer is Yes, came out in 2023, and it’s good to see them back, this time with a lush, string-enhanced, Sturla Mio Thorisson-produced offering, People We Used to Be.
THE SWELL SEASON
Irish musician Glen Hansard and Czech pianist/vocalist Markรฉta Irglovรก came together in Dublin in 2005 when they were asked by Czech film producer Jan Hลebejk to record a set of songs for his film, Beauty in Trouble. The songs became the focal point of the duo’s 2006 eponymous debut album.
Glen and Markรฉta took their name – The Swell Season – from from the title of a novel by Josef ล kvoreckรฝ and they achieved international prominence after their appearance in the 2007 John Carney movie, Once. That appearance not only won The Swell Season the Best Original Song Oscar for their composition Falling Slowly, but also resulted in a cameo in a 2009 episode of The Simpsons!
THE PEOPLE WE USED TO BE
Speaking of People We Used to Be, Markรฉta says: “It’s a song about trying to reconcile with what feels like an end of an era and allowing oneself to mourn The People We Used to Be whilst choosing to fight for the person we love and and the life we built with them. It is a song of defiance and determination as much as heart-aching nostalgia.”
Markรฉta and Glen alternate in taking the vocal lead for People We Used to Be. Both deliver the lyrics clearly and intimately and the harmonies for the chorus are delicious. Instrumentally, it’s Markรฉta’s piano that leads the way, with a strong – but not overbearing – string arrangement providing a velvety depth. The song builds gradually an unremittingly towards its final, soaring, chorus and assumes the feel of a mini-epic as Markรฉta and Glen deliver the song’s key message: “I will not stand and watch this fire burn down everything we worked so hard to build” for the final time.
THE SWELL SEASON – ON TOUR
It’s not just a new single that is causing ripples of excitement amongst followers of The Swell Season. This spring and summer, the duo set out on a marathon tour of Europe (including dates in the UK) and North America. The tour kicks off in Amsterdam on 13th May and will run right through to 24th September when it winds up in Seattle. The full tour itinerary can be found here.
Watch the Radim Vanous-directed video to People We Used to Be below. Shot in Prague, the video nods towards Glen’s and Markรฉta’s performances in the Once movie.
The Swell Season online: Official Website / Facebook / Instagram / Bluesky / YouTube
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