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Apr 23, 2025 By Mark Redfern Photography by Anthony Mulcahy

The Swell Season have announced their first new album in 16 years, Forward, and shared a new song from it, “Stuck in Reverse,” via a music video. Forward is due out June 13. Check out the new single below, followed by the album details and the band’s upcoming tour dates.

The Swell Season is Academy Award winning songwriters Markéta Irglová and Glen Hansard. The duo’s last album was 2009’s Strict Joy. They came to prominence starring in the 2007 movie Once. Its song “Falling Slowly” won the Best Original Song Academy Award.

Sturla Mio Thorisson produced the album, which was recorded at his and Irglova’s Masterkey Studios in Iceland. The album features original Swell Season musicians Marja Gaynor and Bertrand Galen (strings) and Joseph Doyle (bass), as well as newcomer Piero Perelli (drums and percussion).

“It felt right to title the record Forward because it’s a reunion of sorts, but we’re not going backwards,” Irglová says in a press release. “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.”

Hansard had this to say: “After our whirlwind that led up to the Oscars and after, we were so busy and with that came a pressure that neither of us particularly wanted, and ultimately we kind of drifted in the middle of all of that hard work and celebration. We remained good friends, helping on each other’s records, keeping up with each other’s families. While touring my last record, I realized I just missed her. I remember calling Marketa and saying, ‘Do you feel like doing some gigs?’ She said, ‘Yeah, that sounds great,’ and the shows went really well. Once we were hanging out again, new songs started coming through, and we started trying new ideas and playing the songs onstage. From 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. And we were both totally into it, and so here we are, a new chapter of our lives.”

Of the new single, Hansard adds: “In any situation 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 moment just before complete acceptance.”

In 2023 the band returned with “The Answer is Yes,” their first new song in 10 years. It’s not on the new album.

Forward Tracklist:

1. Factory Street Bells
2. People We Used To Be
3. Stuck In Reverse
4. I Leave Everything To You
5. A Little Sugar
6. Pretty Stories
7. Great Weight
8. Hundred Words

The Swell Season Tour Dates:

5/13 - Amsterdam, NL - Koninklijk Theater Carré
5/14 - Antwerp, BG - De Roma
5/16 - Köln, DE - Stadthalle Köln-Mülheim Jülich GmbH
5/17 - Hamburg, DE - CCH - Congress Center Hamburg
5/19 - Berlin, DE - Admiralspalast
5/20 - Vienna, AUT - Wiener Konzerthaus
5/21 - Prague, CZ - Forum Karlín
5/23 - Kraków, POL - Klub Studio
5/24 - Warszawa, POL - Klub Stodoła
5/25 - Brno, CZ - Sono Centrum
5/28 - London, UK - Royal Festival Hall
5/29 - Gateshead, UK - The Glasshouse
5/31 - Dublin, IE - National Concert Hall
6/01 - Dublin, IE - National Concert Hall
7/11 - Vienna, VA - Wolf Trap
7/12 - Cincinnati, OH - Taft Theatre
7/13 - Indianapolis, IN - Murat Theatre
7/15 - Milwaukee, WI - Riverside Theater
7/16 - Minneapolis, MN - Orpheum Theatre
7/18 - Chicago, IL - Auditorium Theatre
7/19 - Detroit, MI - The Fillmore Detroit
7/21 - Toronto, ON - Massey Hall
7/23 - Rochester, NY - Kodak Center
7/25 - Northampton, MA - The Pines Theater
7/26 - Brooklyn, NY - Kings Theatre
7/29 - Philadelphia, PA - The Met
7/31 - Greenville, SC - Peace Center
8/01 - Durham, NC - Durham Performing Arts Center
8/02 - Atlanta, GA - The Woodruff Arts Center
9/09 - St. Louis, MO - The Factory
9/10 - Kansas City, MO - The Midland Theatre
9/12 - Dallas, TX - The Majestic Theater
9/13 - Austin, TX - ACL Live at The Moody Theater
9/15 - Santa Fe, NM - Lensic Performing Arts Center
9/16 - Mesa, AZ - Mesa Arts Center (Ikeda Theater)
9/19 - Los Angeles, CA - The Greek Theatre
9/20 - San Francisco, CA - The Masonic
9/22 - Portland, OR - Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
9/23 - Vancouver, BC - The Orpheum Theatre
9/24 - Seattle, WA - The Paramount Theatre

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