The Beat Bali 496

CD REVIEW
7/10
Glen Hansard
This Wild Willing
Having shot to folkie fame thanks to his lead
role in the Dublin busker musical ‘Once’, Glen
Hansard struggled to follow up the soundtrack’s
success with his subsequent albums. For all its
soul bearing, the songwriting of the former
Frames leader often lacked the grit to break
from comparisons to Van Morrison’s more MOR
musings.
This Wild Willing - his fourth solo effort -
however, sees him laying an entirely new path
for himself. Whether it’s the addition of Dublin
electronic artist Dunk Murphy (aka Sunken Foal)
in his supporting cast or some other epiphany,
there is real steel displayed here. This kind
of experimentation can often lead to clunky,
unfocused work but Hansard keeps everything
tight, ensuring the album flows logically from
one idea to the next.
From the gloriously violent, slo-mo eruption of
“Ill Be You, Be Me Too” to the trod-modern folk
ballad romance of “Leave A Light”, This Wild
Calling casts Hansard in a less restrained and
far more fascinating light. A true leap forward
for an artist maybe just coming into his own
after all this time.
Dan Ashcroft
Like this? Try these:
Leonard Cohen
Songs From A Room
Oft-covered
second album
from Canadian
folk songsmith.
Jeff Buckley
Sketches For My
Sweetheart, The Drunk
Posthumously
released album for
the tragic American
icon with the
choirboy voice.
Glen Hansard &
Markéta Irglová
OST Once
Heartbreaking movie
score by Dublin
busker and Czech
piano virtuoso.
72 www.thebeatbali.com