Strict Joy

The Swell Season are Glen Hansard (from the Irish band the Frames) and
Marketa Irglova (classically trained Czech pianist and vocalist). In 2007,
Once, a film about two people meeting and falling in love on the streets of
Dublin, became an indie phenomenon, as audiences everywhere responded
to the unassuming charm of the two leads, Glen and Marketa, and the
beautiful music they made together. On the way to going gold, the Once
soundtrack brought the Swell Season onto the stage of the Academy
Awards, where the band won the Best Original Song award, and into the
hearts of the audience and host Jon Stewart. Since then they have toured to
sold-out venues as the Swell Season, Once has become a perennial top DVD
rental and seller, and now the film is in development for a Broadway
musical to open early in 2010.
Now comes the much anticipated follow-up, Strict Joy, and from the first
notes of first track Low Rising, the musical magic audiences found in
Once is back. The band returns to map the rocky peaks and valleys of
relationships in songs like the haunting I Have Loved You Wrong, a
Marketa feature, and the driving, anthemic The Rain. A feature
documentary will make the festival rounds this fall, covering the making of
Once and Glen and Marketa s musical coming together, but in the
meantime, the beautiful songs of Strict Joy will tell their story.