For an artist best known for his collaborative work, it may come as a surprise to learn that ‘All That Was East Is West Of Me Now’ is Glen Hansard’s fifth solo album.
In advance of his solo album preparation, Hansard reconvened with Czech singer and pianist Marketa Irglova to perform as The Swell Season, in the USA. The duo starred in 2007 film ‘Once’, and ‘Falling Slowly’ from the soundtrack took the Oscar for Best Song at the 80th Academy Awards.
Also in 2023, they recorded a number of new songs in Irglova’s home studio in Iceland, including ‘(Was It All Worth It?) The Answer is Yes’.
All of this, however, helped give direction to ‘All That Was East Is West Of Me Now’, a record which over the space of its nine tracks is by all turns noisy and meditative, sprawling and hypnotic, and probably Hansard’s most rock record since ‘Burn the Maps’-era The Frames.
The new album’s opening track, ‘The Feast Of St. John’ sees Hansard team up with another famous name, violinist Warren Ellis, taking a break from his work with Nick Cave’s Bad Seeds and his own band The Dirty Three.
‘All That Was East Is West Of Me Now’ came together through a series of gigs Hansard arranged at his small local pub in Dublin over the course of November 2022. “A song only becomes what it is through witness,” Hansard says, pointing out that in the presence of an audience, “the song finds a different way.”
By the end of the five-show residency, the record had taken shape, allowing recording to commence with long time co-conspirator David Odlum at his home studio on the outskirts of Dublin.
Of the gigs, Hansard further explains: “I told no one. We set up in the corner and played to the locals, some of whom were only half listening. A collection of farmers and workers, dart players, pool sharks. I played two hours of new songs each week, some songs finished, some half-baked.
“Through this process I realised what I had and what I had to work on further – which songs landed and which ones were only good in my imagination. It solidified my choices right away. It was as if the album appeared in that bar. And not before.”
‘All That Was East Is West Of Me Now’ is out now on Anti- records.
This article originally appeared in the Portsmouth News.
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