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A hit at Sundance

After Utah, Hansard is ready to rock with the Frames in Prague

By Darrell Jónsson
For The Prague Post
January 31st, 2007 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
The Frames' frontman with Irglová.
For nearly five years, the Czech Republic has been a home away from home for the lead singer of one of Ireland’s most popular rock bands, the Frames. Besides Glen Hansard’s affection for the Czech Republic, both his solo work and the music of his band have an emotional tone, finely crafted rock elements and well-tempered Celtic folk influences that resonate well with the local indie rock landscape. This visceral Irish-Czech connection can be heard on Hansard and Marketa Irglová’s 2006 Indies release, The Swell Season, as well as on the Frames’ recent work.
Having launched The Swell Season last June at Prague’s Archa Theater, Hansard and the Frames return this month to premier their new CD, The Cost. Before that, though, Hansard, Irglová and film director John Carney were invited to bring their independent film project Once to Robert Redford’s Sundance film festival.
On the phone from Utah last week, Hansard and Irglová were happily surprised with the buzz their work was creating at Sundance. Press reports were also positive, predicting that Carney’s humble yet elegant film depicting the lives of two Dublin street musicians (portrayed by Hansard and Irglová) would win at least an Audience Award.
When we caught up with Hansard, it was 1 a.m. Utah time and he was at a noisy, happy post-viewing party.
The Prague Post: How has the response been to your film?
Glen Hansard: It’s been really exciting; people have responded so well — we’ve had standing ovations at our screenings. Marketa and I have also played at the screenings. On every level, it has just been incredible.

TPP: When will we see the film in the Czech Republic?

GH: Hopefully it will be shown at Karlovy Vary this year. We’ve also been talking to the management of Světezor and another Czech theater, so it looks like we will have Czech distribution in 2007. [Clips are currently available on www.youtube.com.]
The Frames

When: Feb. 4 at 8
Where: Divadlo Archa
Tickets: 400 Kč presale at the venue and through Ticketpro, 450 Kč at the door

TPP: In Ireland, the Frames have been performing The Cost in both unplugged and electric formats. What can we expect at your upcoming Archa concert?

GH: It will go between an acoustic thing and a full-on, rock band thing. The Cost moves between two genres, so we are trying to bring a wider spectrum to the sound. We are doing sort of folk music, then at other times it’s more bombastic. This is sort of our ’70s-rock record.
TPP: The new CD certainly does not have a stadium feel.
GH: Exactly, it’s much more subdued than our previous work, and definitely more suited for smaller rooms. Which I’m happy about. Everybody aspires to be a stadium rock group at some point in their career. But, once you get a taste of it, I feel there is too much subtlety sacrificed when you’re playing in front of 30,000 people.

TPP: How does aiming for the stadium shape the sound?

GH: It means your strokes need to be broader and simpler. In front of a small audience, you can be as subtle as you like and people will see it and get it.
TPP: : Did your Swell Season solo project create any conflict with the band?
GH: The whole reason behind Swell Season was Jan Hřebejk’s film Beauty in Trouble. He asked us to submit some songs for the soundtrack, and I just went ahead and recorded whatever I had at the time. He picked three songs for his film, but he paid for all the studio time. When we finished making the recording, I felt like I had an album in my hands. Then I told my band, “I’ve made this album kind of by accident, and there are two songs from our upcoming album on it.” It didn’t go down too well with the boys, but they forgave me.
TPP: What are your future plans in the Czech Republic?
GH: I’ve played in the Czech Republic every summer for the last four or five years. I’ve taken a month off from my band and done all the festivals. Its been a really powerful time. Now, though, because the band is very busy, I’m going to take this year to concentrate on doing festivals with the band.

Darrell Jónsson can be reached at features@praguepost.com


Other articles in Night & Day (31/01/2007):

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