​Glen Hansard (from Don+t Settle (Vol. 1 – Transmissions East on )

​Glen Hansard (from Don+t Settle (Vol. 1 – Transmissions East on )

​Glen Hansard (from Don+t Settle (Vol. 1 – Transmissions East on ) (by Bryant Liggett)


Call Glen Hansard a musician’s musician. He is a take-it-as-it-comes, no matter what I’m offering artist. On his latest release, Don+t Settle (Vol. 1- Transmissions East), Hansard offers up a selection of cuts from his hearty solo career, in addition to digging into the catalogs from his other bands, The Frames and The Swell Season. It’s safe to say the record is stacked with Top Shelf hits, recorded on stage in front of a crowd of diehards at the Funkhaus in Berlin. Don+t Settle (Vol. 1 – Transmissions East) is a release straight from the stage to your ears with little to no studio interference added to his delivery; what you’re hearing is what the same listeners got from the live performance.
Glen Hansard comfortably steers his song between Pop and Prog, Indie and the world of experimental music. A dramatic piano kicks off the release on “Don’t Settle”, a cut high on emotion that blasts into a thick gear with Glen Hansard shouting his vocals as the song builds up to a big release. “On Our Knees” is something that treads into Sonic Youth territory, while “My Little Ruin” starts off with Pop vibes before again building into a larger dramatic piece harkens to Fish-era Marillion.
Glen Hansard, however, is no artist relying on colleague familiarity, as he doesn’t need to lean on borrowed sounds. “Didn’t He Ramble” is a rough around the edges Rocker, “Carrickfergus” is a fantastic rendition of an Irish ballad, and “Lowly Deserter” drops a bouncy breakbeat with a subtle help from public domain songs. With a musician like Glen Hansard, you know there’s always more to come, and in this case, a second volume of recordings dropping later this year. (by Bryant Liggett)
Listen and buy the music of Glen Hansard from AMAZON
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