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The Swell Season is one of those pesky little side projects that suddenly gets much larger than the main act. Back in 2005, Glen Hansard from the Irish band, The Frames, were asked to contribute four songs to a Czech film score. A studio in Prague was booked for a couple of days along with a bunch of local musicians – including a young pianist, Marketa Irglova. Hansard et al. responded to the long session by recording fourteen tracks which resulted in an album called ‘The Swell Season’. This album was originally released in 2006 under Hansard’s and Irglova’s own names.
Then the film ‘Once’ came along. A tiny, low budget production by a mate of Hansard’s, ‘Once’ was a fictional love story about the developing relationship between an Irish busker (Hansard) and a Czech pianist (Irglova). Hansard has history as a film star – he was the red haired guitarist in Alan Parker’s ‘The Commitments’. The debut album was slightly remodelled and expanded to form the soundtrack to the album. All of this would have been very nice and invisible except for one small fact. ‘Falling Slowly’, the main title from the soundtrack (which originally appeared in The Frames album ‘The Cost’) ended up being nominated for an Academy Award in 2007. And then it won.
To aid marketing and whathaveyou, the self titled act suddenly became The Swell Season. And the season was swell. So much so that there has now, three years later, been a follow up album called Strict Joy. Re-naming the act allowed a couple of additions to the line-up so the rhythm section from The Frames along with their very very capable violinist, Colm Mac Con Iomaire. However, the enigmatic loud/soft atmospherics of The Frames musical style is tempered here into more traditional pop balladry – the sort of stuff Van Morrison used to do rather well. Hansard has drawn most of his work on this album from the failure of the personal relationship between himself and Irglova that developed during the ‘Once’ period where life imitated art. That Irglova has remained is a testament to her own strength and the power of the musical relationship. Because there are some seriously personal tunes here. The album opens with ‘Low Rising’ and just gets better from there – the tradition of the Irish ballad pop confessional championed by acts such as Van Morrison, Luka Bloom, Christy Moore, Mundy and Paddy Casey has found another top note with Strict Joy.
If you can, track down the deluxe edition as it comes with a very fine live performance CD and the typically redundant DVD. It is also available on vinyl.
Shongle represents almost the antithesis of The Swell Season. Shpongle is an English collaboration between Simon Ponsford and a gent by the name of Raja Ram. They specialise in a form of electronica that could be called techno trance if such a label existed. Formed in 1996 and releasing a new album roughly every three years since 1999 they are one of a great many cult electronic acts that bleep and giggle their way around a massive sub-culture whilst having a shed load of fun. Their latest album is ‘Ineffable Mysteries from Shpongleland’ (which takes their dodgy album title count to four). Electronica is a difficult poison to sell in a review – one persons mind blowing experience can easily be interpreted by another as a random act of noise derived from computer torture. Shpongle’s brand of electronica is no different. Suffice to say that Ponsford prefers to base his brand of epic techno on live bass and drums and takes the Alan Parson’s approach to production (lots of dynamic range and a big, lush feel) to make for that big 90’s Floyd-y style of prog rock sound to the show. Re-processed guitars, numerous live and natural sound samples, distorted vocals and a diverse array of squiggles, notes and other paraphernalia form much of the melodies of the eight tracks in ‘Shpongleland’ (all of them named with the tongue firmly implanted in cheek).
It is fair to say that I got lost in this. Sixty odd minutes of beat driven fun and nonsense with the odd arresting moment…..such as when what I assume is a hanging drum (according to the slightly loopy liner notes) was used to resonate every window in the place. As far as electronica goes then it is as fun and accessible as other such nonsense from Orbital, The Crystal Method and late model Robert Miles without being as impenetrably serious as Aphex Twin (who no doubt is an influence on Ponsford as there’s some seriously furious squiggle hopping on some tracks on ‘…Shpongleland’). If you don’t fancy this style of music then this is hardly going to change your mind……..but if you are curious then the ten quid or so it’ll cost you is well worth the spend.
Not a long step away from Shpongle is another collaboration known as Younger Brother. Simon Ponsford this time teams with Benji Vaughan who also trades as a solo artist under the alias, Prometheus. To date, these two have produced two albums, A Flock of Bleeps (2003) and The Last Days of Gravity (2007) and there is reportedly a third album in production. I’ll deal here with ‘The Last Days of Gravity’.
Younger Brother trades in much the same musical warehouse as Shpongle. However, their corner is occupied by a suite of more traditional acoustic sounds rather than Shpongle’s Eastern tinged techno wobble. The distorted sounds are still there but the epic flavour is dropped in preference for a more intimate feel – there’s even a vocal track! Whilst a very long way from ambient this is very much at the easier listening end of the trance and techno. In fact, you could say it was familiar. The well that the Younger Brother duo has drawn from has also been used by many more familiar electronic artists from Jean Michael Jarre right through to Chicane. But if you like your electronica stretched out into long sonic strings rather than three minute fit for radio bursts then you might find a home in your heart for The Last Days of Gravity. Enjoy
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