Glen Hansard - Didn’t He Ramble

  by Benjamin Howarth

published: 9 / 11 / 2015

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Review

After a decade and a half fronting the Frames, playing to devoted audiences who could sing along to every word while wondering why nobody else had heard of their heroes, Glen Hansard suddenly found himself in the global spotlight when 'Once', the low-budget indie film he'd starred in and soundtracked became exactly the kind of unexpected hit his band had never quite managed. Vindicated by that triumph, he can no longer be accused of being a cult. But, while the songs he wrote for the film – in particular 'Falling Slowly', for which Hansard won his Oscar – now have a life of their own, including in a musical that ran in the West End for two years and is sure to return again – Hansard continues recording and touring in much the same way he's always done. His stock-in-trade remains what it always has been – songs that are very easy to cover, but very hard to cover well. Big hearted melodies around simple three chord strums, driven along primarily by Hansard's charisma and self-belief. It's his belief in the power of music and lyrics, as much as the actual power of what he's recorded, that has consistently carried his music along – and should explain to any doubters why his fanbase remains so devoted. Hansard has said that he found 'Didn't He Ramble' – his tenth studio album overall, though only his second as a 'solo' artist – as hard to write and record as any in his career. To be frank, it doesn't sound like it. Where some of his early work appeared to suffer from being over-thought, 'Didn't He Ramble' is as focused an album as he's ever made, ten tracks in forty minutes, and none of the extended passages that occasionally disrupted the flow of his albums with the Frames. Regular collaborators Thomas Bartlett (probably best known for his work with the National) and David Odlum (a former bandmate in the Frames) know how to make Hansard's songs work now. His guitar lines are always precisely judged – even when, on paper, they are just a few simple chords strung together – and remain at the heart of the song even when, as on 'Her Mercy', they are surrounded by gospel singers and horns. Fleeting guest appearances from Sam Beam and Sam Amidon don't distract any attention from Hansard as the star of the show. The big difference between this album and his earlier work is that he largely eschews the tales of heartbreak and lost love that were the mainstay of earlier albums. The irony is that Hansard often used themes of struggle, work, faith and friendship as metaphors to sing about relationships – now he is singing about them directly. What remains is the wide-eyed enthusiasm and Hansard's infectious conviction that what he is doing is the most important thing he could be doing. Accordingly, it is another Glen Hansard album that you'll go back to time and time again.

Track Listing:-

1 Grace Beneath the Pines
2 Wedding Ring
3 Winning Streak
4 Her Mercy
5 McCormack's Wall
6 Lowly Deserter
7 Paying My Way
8 My Little Ruin
9 Just to be the One
10 Stay the Road

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/GlenHansardMu
http://glenhansardmusic.com/
https://twitter.com/Glen_Hansard
https://plus.google.com/10842966006064
https://instagram.com/glenhansard/

Label Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/antirecords
http://antirecords.tumblr.com/
https://www.youtube.com/user/antirecor
https://twitter.com/antirecords
http://www.anti.com/