Glen Hansard – This Wild Willing
Anti- Records – 12 April 2019
Something that has always drawn me to the work of Glen Hansard is his obvious satisfaction in exploring new sonic landscapes, very rarely retracing his own footprints. From the early days of the Frames, it often amazed me how the studio and the live personalities were so split right down the middle. Behind closed soundproof doors hides an introvert, a soul searcher, someone who carries the weight of the world on his shoulders yet at the same time tries to lighten the burden of others through concentrated empathy, laughter and sentiment, almost trying to come to terms with living in his own skin. In front of an audience though, the introvert disappears, his music and self taking on a whole new energy, channelling through a body that gives absolutely everything in its performance to a crowd, perhaps thanking them for accepting his humbling self-doubt, something that allows him to dig so deep and come up with incredible songs time after time. But listening to ‘This Wild Willing’, the 4th solo album from Glen, it appears to me that producer David Odlum has somehow properly married the two musical personalities of Hansard together for the first time on record.
I’ll be You, Be Me is the leading song. Not my favourite song on the album (Spoiler Alert! Not my favourite on this album is still a bloody good song), but a great choice in capturing the attention of the listener, acting as a gentle prologue to the album. Almost a cross between John Carpenter bass lines and Massive Attack textures, the orchestra and voices swell through a three-minute crescendo while Hansard remains measured. But as I say, this is only the prologue…
Don’t Settle is a fine example how Glen can connect so soundly with his audience. His lyrics can be vague yet so direct in the same measure, anyone can find their own particular solace in his words…
When they turn your words against you
Try to grind you to the ground
Let them know that they might beat you
But they’ll never turn you around
Don’t settle…Not yet…
Don’t settle for less…
This time Hansard does start to rev the engine, shooting up the octave. It’s something that happens a lot in song, but in many cases the singer delivers a vocal that in the first instance is too low for them, allowing them to achieve their natural higher register later in the song for more impact. I don’t know if it’s a technique founded on years of busking on the streets of Dublin, or just a God-given talent…probably both…but Glen Hansard has the most incredible range, handling it all with such ease and fluidity. But full praise has to go to David Odlum for capturing so incredibly well, both the up close and personal low melody and the belter of a climax of Don’t Settle in one take. Fair play sir!
Fool’s Game wouldn’t be out of place in the next series of Twin Peaks. I’ve a notion that Odlum didn’t follow everyone else’s example in throwing out their old AKAI synths. There is a lovely connection between effects and live performance on this song. In fact, the themes and emotion delivered in this track alone would be the basis of many’s an outstanding album. And, my goodness, the female vocal…
Race to the Bottom… My word, this song takes me on so many journeys, Bernard Herman’s close brass arrangements, Leonard Cohen’s female BV’s and Spanish Guitars, Tom Waits’ grungy percussion, but even as my ear wants to follow these diversions, Hansard’s whispered vocal has my complete attention. Well almost… my ears do slightly point East thanks to the beautiful ethnic sounds of the Khoshravesh Brothers from Iran.
The Closing Door... with every song there is tension and there is relief. But there is no real relief. Every song begins again and we are back to square one. Every player and listener trying to work their way out of a predicament. Pretty apt to what’s going on in today’s world, don’t ye think? Not even halfway through this album and I feel almost spent, in the loveliest way possible.
Brother’s Keeper, I suddenly realise that the acoustic guitar, normally synonymous with the sound of Glen Hansard, has not been that dominant until know. But it’s still different than all the time I’ve heard him before. The connection between the acoustic and the piano is reminiscent of Nick Drake’s Northern Sky. And the organic pad that surrounds these two players is a cushion of feathers for possibly my favourite song on the album.
I’d be very intrigued as to who Mary is. She has made quite the impact, I’ll give her that. What I do know though is how the musicians on this album are as tasteful a bunch as I’ve ever heard. They never overpower but are constant. Hansard has the space to breathe, phrasing lyrics that are bereft of fat, delivering stark melody that runs into the room, cuffs you around the ear, and gets out the door before you know what’s going on.
Threading Water hints, for me, toward one of my favourite albums, ‘Mule Variations’. I’m thinking that if anyone ever makes a Spaghetti Western in the Middle East involving an Irish cowboy, this would be a killer soundtrack. With this song and Weight of the World that follows, it could be interpreted that this singer is threading water. Is that a bad thing? Definitely not.
Odlum has crafted Hansard a boat, choice musicians have painted the most incredible landscape, Hansard is lying back absorbing everything, loving every minute, and best of all, there’s room in the boat for all of us and we’re all welcome. Let’s all thread water awhile…
Who’s Gonna be your Baby Now, a simple old school structure of a song that has been done so many times, but on this album sounds so fresh. The hypnotic swells in Good Life of Song trigger my senses. We are approaching the end of our journey. Our eyes will open. We shall awake. Everything is as it was in the beginning, but maybe not quite. For we have been on a journey, we have felt something, we have been moved. Perhaps someday I will meet someone who has had this experience also. We will share. We will bond. That is what is different.
Where there is a beginning, there is an end. A prologue deserves an epilogue. Leave a Light is Glen’s bit of luck to you, his Irish Blessing that hopes to give you comfort on your way.
So say goodbye to the long cold Winter
And farewell to all we’ve left behind
From far away on the deep black ocean
You’re the one I’ll come back to find.
At first glance ‘This Wild Willing’ is twelve tracks on an album. In reflection, it is a Symphony made up of twelve movements. A symphony born from a desire to collaborate, to open new doors, connect with people from all ends of the earth, and completed with a joy and yearning to create something infinitely precious. Under no matter what guise, be it the Frames, the Swell Season, this is Glen Hansards best complete work by a country mile. I doubt if it’s going to sell in the quantities of U2 or Thin Lizzy, but I hope that history sees it as one of the finest albums to ever come out of Ireland.
A proper Irish Blessing.
UPCOMING TOUR DATES
4/9 – Dublin, Ireland – Vicar Street
4/10 – Dublin, Ireland – Vicar Street
4/12 – Derry, United Kingdom – St. Columb’s Hall
4/13 – Derry, United Kingdom – St. Columb’s Hall SOLD OUT
4/15 – London, United Kingdom – Barbican Centre
4/16 – London, United Kingdom – Barbican Centre
4/27 – Paris, France – Casino de Paris
4/29 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Koninklijk Theater Carré
4/30 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Koninklijk Theater Carré
5/2 – Copenhagen, Denmark – Amager Bio / BETA
5/4 – Stockholm, Sweden – Skandiascenen
5/6 – Brussels, Belgium – Cirque Royal
5/8 – Cologne, Germany – Kőlner Philharmonie
5/9 – Frankfurt Am Main, Germany – Alte Oper
5/11 – Brno-žabovřesky, Czech Republic – 5th Anniversary of SONO Centrum
5/13 – Warszawa, Poland – Palladium
5/14 – Warszawa, Poland – Palladium
5/16 – Berlin, Germany – Admiralspalast
5/17 – Berlin, Germany – Admiralspalast
5/19 – Berlin, Germany – Admiralspalast
Order tickets here http://glenhansard.com/tour/
(out April 12th via Anti- Records)