The first solo outing from
Frames leader and
Swell Season co-conspirator
Glenn Hansard doubles down on the prolific Irish singer/songwriter's penchant for crafting soulful, slow burn ballads that ache like the sliced-open underbelly of a terminally swollen rain cloud. Inspired by a year-and-a-half stint as a denizen of New York City, as well his breakup with
Swell Season partner
Markéta Irglová, the 11-track
Rhythm and Repose is as lonely and pained as the face that graces its cover.
Hansard's wounded
Cat Stevens-esque cadence serves as an excellent bad news delivery system, especially on the sparse piano- and string-laden "The Storm, It's Coming" and the tense, brooding opener "You Will Become." There are also moments ("High Hope," "Bird of Sorrow") on
Rhythm and Repose where
Hansard uses the confessional singer/songwriter trope as a front for a much more primal process, allowing songs the room to smoke and sizzle before tossing in the gas can in a fit of explosive melodrama that suggests some of the finer moments from
the Frames. ~ James Christopher Monger