Swooning for Swell

The show started on a strong note, with the gorgeous "When Your Mind's Made Up," and, unlike Glen's last appearance at the TLA (with the Frames), there wasn't a single moment at which the set seemed to drag. As low-key as The Swell Season's music is, their stage presence is remarkably upbeat. Glen and Marketa's voices harmonize beautifully (although his sometimes drowned hers out), and there's a tangible chemistry between them, whether they're sitting several feet apart or sharing one chair. This might be because they're (reportedly) dating. Or it might be because the nature of their music breeds the kind of intimacy that usually requires a candlelit dinner and a string quartet. The lyrics are sometimes bittersweet ("Falling Slowly" always makes me cry), but it's hard not to want to cuddle to the music, sometimes. At least, when they're playing their music. Their cover of The Pixies' "Cactus" was significantly less cuddle-able, but nonetheless awesome.

In addition to The Swell-Season's all-around outstanding musical performance is the fact that Glen Hansard is a master frontman. He told hysterical, seemingly irrelevant (until the end) stories, cracked jokes, and very politely requested that the TLA turn the air conditioning off. Not because he was cold, but because he was worried that it was making too much noise. (A bit later, he paused to ask the audience how they were doing. One person yelled back: "It's a bit warm in here!" Glen apologized if anyone was hot, to which another audience member responded with "No, you're hot!" It was the first time I'd ever been able to tell a person was blushing from twenty feet away.)

Glen and Mar were also both incredibly humbled by their sudden success. (To be fair, Glen has been successful with The Frames for some time – but The Swell Season is really taking off as a side project.) They both thanked the audience, over and over again, for coming out to support them, being certain to emphasize that they weren't just saying that to be nice. At one point, Glen said that the response to Once (the film they made together) had been overwhelming, saying (to paraphrase): "It's like you spend your whole career chasing after the world, saying: 'Hey! Look at me!' And then all of a sudden, one day, the world turns around at you and says: 'WHAT?'" His reenactment of his dialogue with the world was charming and sincere and very, very funny. And by the time the Swell Season was done performing their final song of the night, a rousing Bob Dylan cover, you couldn't help but be glad that the world had finally noticed.

If I'm going to be a superfan for someone, I'm glad it's The Swell Season.

If you missed the show in Philly, NPR is streaming the recording of The Swell Season's performance in D.C. the night before (with a very, very similar setlist) here.

Photo of me being ridiculously superfannish snapped by Ross, whom I rather rudely forgot to introduce to Glen and Marketa when I met them after the show and had them sign my ticket stub, because I forgot my CD. Photo of Glen and Marketa performing together by author.