While browsing iTunes the other day, I made a couple impulse buys I’d had on my “To Buy One Day” list.  The winners were Solo Piano by Gonzales (great) and the self-titled album by The Swell Season.  I’m glad I remembered The Swell Season, a unique duet composed of Glen Hansard (of The Frames) and Marketa Irglova, also the stars of the 2006 film Once.  Listening to their album took me back to their movie, which, if you’ve never seen, you should.  The songs are straight-forward, musically instinctual not intellectual.  The instrumentation is simple — a non-imposing acoustic carrying the rhythm, some meager but honest strings for a little orchestration, and very basic piano framing progressions or complementing the melodies sung by Hansard. Continue reading →