Although it's only technically available this coming week, I imagine most of you will have long decided where you stand on 'Once' and it's attendant soundtrack album by GLEN HANSARD & MARKETA IRGLOVA.
For anyone who's either been in a coma or living in an area of Siberia devoid of Sky Digital and internet access, 'Once' is basically an extremely low budget movie set in Dublin set around the chance meeting and subsequent blossoming friendship between an Irish singer-songwriter busking on the streets of Dublin (Hansard) and a young Czech immigrant (Irglova) attempting to make sense of life as a stranger in a strange land. I won't spoil the action for you - save to say beware of women bearing broken vacuum cleaners on Grafton Street - but despite the film's shoestring budget, it went on to do a Goliath at the Industry Awards, winning an Oscar against unbelievable odds and has since gained considerable kudos for both its' main protagonists.
Personally, this writer's been able to take or leave Hansard's regular charges The Frames over the years. Certainly, Hansard's a talented bloke, but parts of 'Fitzcarraldo' and a few singles aside, they've never really impinged that much. His pairing with Irglova is intriguing, though, and even though 'Falling Slowly' has already begun to elbow itself into heavy rotation in Ireland (and probably significant parts of Europe, I dare say) it has a melancholic, vulnerable lilt to it that can't fail to tug at the heartstrings regardless of association.
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B-side 'Lies' is basically more of the same, save for the addition of some discreet woodwind and strings filling in a few extra cracks, but it's hardly unpleasant either. Whether you'd want to investigate their 'Swell Season' as a result probably depends on how you viewed 'Once', but for this writer, the simple fact it swept aside so much overblown industry cack is good enough for a thumbs up. Let's hope the sudden intensity of the limelight brings them more happiness than it did Elliott Smith.
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