Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová have announced their first new album as The Swell Season in 16 years. Forward, their follow-up to 2009 record Strict Joy, is out June 13th. Along with the announcement, they’ve put out the lead single, “Stuck in Reverse,” which you can listen to below.
Forward was produced by Sturla Mio Thorisson and will feature eight tracks written by Hansard and Irglová, including the recent single “People We Used to Be.” In 2007, the duo starred as fictionalized versions of themselves in the film Once. The film’s song “Falling Slowly” won the pair an Academy Award for Best Original Song that year and was eventually adapted into a Broadway musical.
Get The Swell Season Tickets Here
The pair has kept busy with solo projects over the years, but they slowly began to record together following a tour that brought them back together musically. “It felt right to title the record Forward because it’s a reunion of sorts, but we’re not going backwards,” Irglová noted in press materials. “Both of us have grown and changed; we’re in different places and getting to know each other again as the new people we’ve become.”
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Hansard pointed out that their Academy Award win placed a burden on the duo that they didn’t feel entirely ready to handle. “[There] came a pressure that neither of us particularly wanted, and ultimately we kind of drifted,” Hansard said. “We remained good friends… [but] while touring my last record, I realized I just missed her.”
He continued, “There the idea was to do a little recording and not put any pressure on it, just see what happens, and suddenly we found ourselves making a record.”
Speaking about Forward’s lead single, Hansard explained that “Stuck in Reverse” is about the difficulty of letting go: “Moving on is clearly the right and natural thing to do. This song speaks to that part of us that can’t quite get there.”
The Swell Season are heading out on tour this May, first trekking across Europe and the UK. They’ll head to North America in July, with their final show of 2025 happening on September 24th in Seattle. Find tickets here.
Forward Artwork:
Forward Tracklist:
01. Factory Street Bells
02. People We Used to Be
03. Stuck in Reverse
04. I Leave Everything to You
05. Little Sugar
06. Pretty Stories
07. Great Weight
08. Hundred Words
The Swell Season 2025 Tour Dates:
05/13 — Amsterdam, NL @ Koninklijk Theater Carré
05/14 — Antwerp, BE @ De Roma
05/16 — Köln, DE @ Stadthalle Köln-Mülheim Jülich GmbH
05/17 — Hamburg, DE @ CCH Congress Center Hamburg
05/19 — Berlin, DE @ Admiralspalast
05/20 — Vienna, AT @ Wiener Konzerthaus
05/21 — Prague, CZ @ Forum Karlín
05/23 — Kraków, PL @ Klub Studio
05/24 — Warsaw, PL @ Klub Stodoła
05/25 — Brno, CZ @ Sono Centrum
05/28 — London, UK @ Royal Festival Hall
05/29 — Gateshead, UK @ The Glasshouse
05/31 — Dublin, IE @ National Concert Hall
06/01 — Dublin, IE @ National Concert Hall
07/11 — Vienna, VA @ Wolf Trap
07/12 — Cincinnati, OH @ Taft Theatre
07/13 — Indianapolis, IN @ Murat Theatre
07/15 — Milwaukee, WI @ Riverside Theater
07/16 — Minneapolis, MN @ Orpheum Theatre
07/18 — Chicago, IL @ Auditorium Theatre
07/19 — Detroit, MI @ The Fillmore Detroit
07/21 — Toronto, ON @ Massey Hall
07/23 — Rochester, NY @ Kodak Center
07/25 — Northampton, MA @ The Pines Theater
07/26 — Brooklyn, NY @ Kings Theatre
07/29 — Philadelphia, PA @ The Met
07/31 — Greenville, SC @ Peace Center
08/01 — Durham, NC @ Durham Performing Arts Center
08/02 — Atlanta, GA @ The Woodruff Arts Center
09/09 — St. Louis, MO @ The Factory
09/10 — Kansas City, MO @ The Midland Theatre
09/12 — Dallas, TX @ The Majestic Theater
09/13 — Austin, TX @ ACL Live at The Moody Theater
09/15 — Santa Fe, NM @ Lensic Performing Arts Center
09/16 — Mesa, AZ @ Mesa Arts Center (Ikeda Theater)
09/19 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Greek Theatre
09/20 — San Francisco, CA @ The Masonic
09/22 — Portland, OR @ Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
09/23 — Vancouver, BC @ The Orpheum Theatre
09/24 — Seattle, WA @ The Paramount Theatre
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