The Swell SeasonBest known for their starring roles in the indie-turned-phenomenon film Once, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova are back with a new album, according to CHARTattack.

The duo that together form the music group The Swell Season will release their new album, Strict Joy, on Oct. 27.

Their first album, the soundtrack for Once, features the 2008 Oscar-winner for best song, “Falling Slowly.” But now they are back and are teamed up with Hansard’s Irish rock band, The Frames. And they promise that Strict Joy will be a much different musical presence than with Once.

“I think if we had gone in … to try and make the Oncesoundtrack again, I think we would have failed,” Hansard said. “Because we’re not there. So, it would have been a desperate failure.”

It turns out that The Swell Season’s second album wasn’t a planned venture – it was as much of a wonderful stumble in the right direction as their successes with Oncewere (the film, that was only made for about $150,000 (U.S.), grossed $20 million (U.S.) worldwide, according to the New York Times). Working on the new songs with Peter Katis (Interpol, The National) came about almost by accident.

“We went up there and we weren’t expecting to make a record,” said Hansard. ”We just went in, and we started recording the songs we’d been playing on tour… and then we realized we were in the middle of making a second record. We never set out to write those songs, to gather the songs and see what we had. The whole thing just came sort of naturally. It was a very easy birth.”

This record, while maybe an accident, will surely have a lot to say. After falling in love on their tour in support of the Oncesoundtrack, Hansard and Irglova dated for two years. They broke up just before beginning to work on Strict Joy.

Still, the two remain close friends and music partners.

Love or not, Hansard is thrilled to be seeing such success with The Swell Season after a bumpy ride with The Frames.

“After 17 years of struggling in a band, all I knew was struggle,” he said. “So when success came I struggled with success, I [didn't] know what to do with it.”

Still, he is learning to embrace it.

“It’s like: you want this, accept this, take a holiday, crack a bottle of champagne, get some perspective and get back to work,” said Hansard.

The Swell Season will be touring in support of Strict Joy. You can see them here:

Nov.1 Milwaukee, WI @ The Pabst
Nov. 2 Indianapolis, IN @ Clownes Theatre
Nov. 3 Toronto, ON @ Massey Hall
Nov. 4 Montreal, QC @ Olympia
Nov. 6 Boston, MA @ Berklee Performing Arts Centre
Nov. 7 Providence, RI @ Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel
Nov. 8 Philidelphia, PA @ Merriam
Nov. 9 Washington, DC @ Nightclub 9:30
Nov. 12 New Orleans, LA @ House of Blues
Nov. 13 Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live
Nov. 14 Dallas, TX @ Palladium
Nov.15 Austin, TX @ The Paramount
Nov. 17 Mesa, AZ @ Mesa Arts
Nov. 18 Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern
Nov. 20 San Francisco, CA @ The Paramount
Nov. 22 Seattle, WA @ The Paramount
Nov. 23 Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
Nov. 25 Vancouver, BC @ Centre For the Performing Arts
Nov. 27 Boise, ID @ Egyptian
Nov. 28 Salt Lake City, UT @ Jeanne Wagner Theatre
Nov. 29 Denver, CO @ The Ogden Theatre
Nov. 30 Kansas City, MO @ Uptown Theatre
Dec. 3 Chicago, IL @ Auditorium Theater
Dec. 4 St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant
Dec. 5 Minneapolis, MN @ The State Theatre






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