The Swell Season @ SydneyOpera House (5/04/2010)

Tue 6th Apr, 2010 in Gig Reviews

Everything you need to know about the Swell Season can be found in Glen Hansard’s eyebrows. The Irish troubadour and crossover star invests so much emotion into the love songs he’s recorded with Markéta Irglová that when he’s going for the jugular, his facial expressions give him away.

Armed with only an acoustic guitar and his voice, sometimes even without a microphone, Hansard is a brilliant, goosebump-inspiring stage performer. The softly spoken Irglová, who visibly relishes the opportunity to command the piano alongside the Frames frontman, is the perfect yin to his yang, and watching these two in motion manages to even transcend the gorgeous indie film that brought them together in the first place.

Songs this good don’t come around that often. The Oscars recognised this when Falling Slowly won Best Original Song for Once, and the subsequent Swell Season canon continues smoothly where the film reel stopped. Hansard has proved to be not only a great poet, but also one of the most unfathomably underrated vocalists of his generation.

Seeing Hansard and his muse on the stage is an otherworldly experience; harmonies so perfect it’s as if they’re fused at the hip, lyrics so nuanced they’d eat the pop charts for breakfast and chemistry so undeniable that you have to pinch yourself to remember they’ve actually broken up. Low Rising is a gem, and The Rain has the kind of chord progression that has all the young romantics bawling. These are voices honed from experience, love and heartbreak, something recognised by the equally tasteful backing band comprised of Hansard’s former group.

Even better for fans, Hansard uses the acoustics to demonstrate the extraordinary range of colour in his voice, as songs like Lies showcase his ability to rise to an almost hysterical wail and snap back into crooning mode almost instantly. He pushes out his diaphragm for the soul-filling coda of When Your Mind’s Made Up, forcing Irglová to match him in intensity.

Too many contemporary artists are being given the chance to perform at The Opera House without either deserving it or appreciating the true privilege of the moment. The Swell Season is the exact opposite; not only are they an outfit with an excess of real talent, but their humility is warm and refreshing.