Glen Hansard
By All Music Guide
By All Music Guide
From there, Hansard quickly gathered a group of fellow buskers and formed the Frames. Unfortunately, such quick accolades proved daunting for Hansard and the Frames, whose grunge-influenced release Another Love Song came and went (the bandmembers dont consider it part of their discography now), forcing the label to drop the group. To distract him from the disappointment, Hansard took the role of Outspan Foster, a guitarist in the famed Alan Parker film The Commitments (1991). He would later admit that he shouldnt have taken the role, for it merely placated his struggle with making music. But a trip to New York gave Hansard the space and time to dream it all up again, and a newfound focus and desire to keep the music alive was enough for him to write the guitar-blazing anthem Revelate and Say It to Me Now, both of which eventually landed on the Frames proper debut album, Fitzcarraldo (1996).
Over the next decade, Hansard and the Frames continued releasing albums while also becoming one of Irelands finest live acts. In 2003, Hansard played host to Other Voices: Songs from a Room, a popular television show featuring Irelands best in new music. Three years later, prior to issuing the Frames sixth effort, The Cost, Hansard made his solo debut with The Swell Season. The acoustic-based beauty featured his collaboration with Czech songstress Markéta Irglová. He and Irglová also appeared as working-class immigrants in the Irish movie Once, slated for debut at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007.
