GLEN HANSARD : ALL THAT WAS EAST IS WEST OF ME NOW

GLEN HANSARD : ALL THAT WAS EAST IS WEST OF ME NOW

The Feast Of St. John
Down On Our Knees
There's No Mountain
Sure As The Rain
Between Us There Is Music
Ghost
Bearing Witness
Short Life

Label : Anti

Release Date : October 20, 2023

Length : 42:17

Review (Dansende Beren) : In enkele dagen tijd is de gemiddelde temperatuur met zo’n tien graden gezakt, wat betekent dat het tijd is voor soep, warme chocomelk, zachte dekentjes en alles dat bij kil herfstweer komt kijken. Als iemand de ideale muziek maakt voor bij dergelijk weer, dan is het de Ierse singer-songwriter Glen Hansard wel. De altijd wat melancholische Ier weet al jaren mensen te raken met zijn warme stem en dat is ook op All That Was East Is West Of Me Now niet anders. Het sterke album is als soloalbum de opvolger van het in 2019 verschenen This Wild Willing. Met “The Feast of St. John” opent het album nog op een ietwat rockende manier, waarbij de zwaardere elektrische gitaren voor het rockende gehalte zorgen, terwijl de altijd meeslepende viool van Warren Ellis van The Bad Seeds al voor het eerst een gevoelige snaar weet te raken. Heel verfijnd en technisch gezongen is het niet, maar de stem van Hansard zit vol met overtuigingskracht en passie; een lijn die hij doorheen het hele album weet door te trekken. Toch is het niet allemaal mistroostigheid en emotie dat de klok slaat, want een nummer zoals “Down On Our Knees” laat zich voornamelijk kenmerken door zijn catchy refrein, de afstandelijke gitaren en de fantastische aandrijvende basgitaar. Op die manier is het lied een buitenbeentje op het album, waar All That Was East Is West Of Me Now misschien wel zonder had gekund. Hansard is nu eenmaal op zijn best wanneer het tempo wat lager ligt en de instrumentatie voornamelijk akoestisch is. Dat illustreert hij ook op “There’s No Mountain“, dat zonder meer het mooiste nummer van het album is. De zeggingskracht waarmee de bard zinnen als ‘right as I thought I was losing, that truth came bruising and cut me right down in my pride’ zingt, is er eentje van hors categorie. Het valt ook op hoe nagenoeg ieder nummer op het album vrij lang is, met een gemiddelde lengte van vijf minuten, de reprise van een minuutje op het einde niet meegerekend. Toch weet Hansard overal wel onze aandacht te houden. De naadloze productie die met kleine details na een zoveelste luisterbeurt nog weet te verrassen zit daar voor een groot deel tussen, maar ook de diversiteit wat betreft songs draagt daar aan bij. Hansard komt weer dichter bij zijn vertrouwde sound op All That Was East Is West Of Me Now, maar geeft alles een bepaalde eigenheid, waarmee hij eventuele herhaling makkelijk vermijdt. Van de Tom Waits-achtige muzikale indeling en de Franse strofe in “Sure As The Rain”, tot de trage bezwerende strijkers op de achtergrond van “Between Us There is Music” weet Hansard met muzikale nuances die toch in zijn comfortzone liggen en ook zo klinken, toch met ieder lied een ietwat nieuw geluid aan de man te brengen. Naar het einde van de plaat toe wordt ook nog een pareltje voorgeschoteld. “Short Life”, dat, wanneer je de reprise niet meerekent, het slotnummer is, is er eentje die zich voortdurend vooruit sleept met sterke percussie en strijkers die voor een hogere muzikale intensiteit zorgen, die naar het einde toe tot op een maximum gedreven worden. Hansard zingt zijn hart en ziel eruit en eindigt het album zo net op de manier dat hij het begon, namelijk met zang die technisch niet perfect is, maar die zodanig oprecht is en tonnen zeggingskracht bevat. All That Was East Is West Of Me Now is in zekere zin een terugkeer naar de folkachtige roots van Glen Hansard, al is de muziek intussen net wat gecompliceerder en gevarieerder geworden. De melancholie die Hansard nagenoeg altijd heeft gekenmerkt wordt ook deze keer op de luisteraar overgebracht, zij het deze keer naast met zijn stem ook meer met de straffe instrumentatie, die bovenal uitstekend geproducet is.

Review (Americana UK) : Irish rock band The Frames have released seven studio albums, and with ‘All That Was East Is West Of Me Now’ their frontman, Glen Hansard notches up his fifth solo album, which comes four years after the release of his last one. The Frames haven’t released an album since 2015 and therefore his solo career is currently the outlet for new Glen Hansard material. During these four years, Glen Hansard collaborated with Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder and Cat Power, as well as touring with the Frames and with Czech singer-songwriter, Markéta Irglová, as The Swell Season. The songs on ‘All That Was East Is West Of Me Now’ were knocked into shape in Glen Hansard’s local pub in an attempt to get input from an audience before he started recording the songs with Irish musician, producer and long-term collaborator, Dave Odlum. The rather convoluted title is a reference to the fact that Hansard has more years behind him than he has in front of him, a sentiment that informs the whole record. Opening track ‘The Feast Of St. John’ has been said to have echoes of Neil Young’s ‘On The Beach’, and Hansard is joined by Bad Seed Warren Ellis on violin. Dreams can inspire songs and that is the case with the ‘Down On Our Knees’ which is bass and drum-heavy and reminds everyone that they will be down on their knees at some point. The third track oozes positivity as Hansard proclaims ‘There Is No Mountain’ that can’t be climbed. Determination gives way to contentment on ‘Sure As The Rain’ as Hansard sings a love song to his wife and young song, with the help of Via Mardot’s theremin. There is more of an orchestral feel to ‘Between Us There Is Music’ which takes a mature look at a relationship, and Hansard’s softer vocals are backed by layered female vocals. The mood is continued on ‘Ghost’ about moving on from a past action within a relationship. There is a sense of defiance to the upbeat ‘Bearing Witness’ which ups the rock music quotient on a tune about making the best of what life gives you. You can feel Glen Hansard’s emotion as he reflects on how short the human lifespan is given the scale of the challenges faced by the world on ‘Short Life’. The album closes with a reprise that brings a sense of cohesion to what has gone before. Glen Hansard is a well-known admirer of fellow Irishman Van Morrison, and on ‘All That Was East Is West Of Me Now’ he shows that he himself is able to mature while still producing work that reflects the world of today while adding to the Irish musical tradition. He and producer Dave Odlum have upped the rock sound which is an echo of Hansard’s work with the Frames and reflects his extracurricular activities with Eddie Vedder and Cat Power. He brings his literary skills to bear on the experiences of someone who is now in their sixth decade, and his vocals are as expressive as ever. This is a record that will delight his fans wherever they are in the world, and it confirms that maturity is simply grist to his artistic mill.

Review (Sputnik Music) : The Glen Hansard of 2023 sounds weary. He possesses the gruff croon of a man who's weathered more than his share of storms. The days of him being a bright-eyed balladeer seem much longer ago than 2018, and that's thanks in large part to This Wild Willing – a beautifully dark and hour long opus which acted as something of a ravine in his discography. It's a sensation captured within the title of his fifth record: All That Was East Is West Of Me Now. Contained within this new album is the sound of a man who, in many respects, has left his old life behind in pursuit of new mountains to climb. Just last year, he became a first time father at the age of fifty-two. Hansard's newfound perspective serves as a creative driving force, with the overarching atmosphere painting an image of utter existential urgency. On the album's final track (discounting the fifty-eight second 'Reprise'), Glen sings "We only get so much time at the wheel...There'll be no going back this time, don't throw it away." Between bringing new life into the world and staring down the second act of his own story, such passages – and the album's wordy title – could also be seen as something much bigger than a mere observation of his discography: time is passing quickly, and before any of us know it, we will be looking at our pasts as the majority portion of our lives. It's a sobering realization. As such, All That Was East Is West Of Me Now cuts to the chase. At forty-two minutes, it's significantly trimmed down compared to This Wild Willing, where bloat was the only obstacle to perfection. While this record doesn't experiment quite on the level of its predecessor, what it loses in creative grandeur it makes up for in consistent songwriting and subtly brilliant lyrics. These songs may feel simpler, but they're no less impactful. 'The Feast Of St. John' crashes in like waves on a rocky shore, as Hansard's bitter croons cut through the track's dense, riff-driven fog with critical observations of a society eager to tear each other down rather than work together: "See a man of good standing pushed to the ground, and his lover attending and her arms all around / Muster, muster to the depths of your soul, and don't go drowning when they drag you down in the hollow / Let them circle, let them hover / They all deserve one another." Immediately on its heels is 'Down On Our Knees', which is a melodic rocker that views our whole world through a fiery, apocalyptic lens: "Death knells are tolling, seven seals are broken open / The end is nigh, blood streaked across the sky"..."Pandemic, famine, war, privation, mass migration / Four horsemen riding, knights of the apocalypse"..."We all go down on our knees." Elsewhere, we get relational desperation in the exasperated 'Ghost' ("There's a ghost in the house, can you believe it? Well, you ought to know, you brought it home") and the heartwrenching morbidity of the fantastic curtain-call, 'Short Life' ("It's a dangerous lie, that we've got endless time"). By and large, All That Was East Is West Of Me Now harnesses the fear that comes with middle age and channels it into passion. Even amid all of the doom-and-gloom, however, there are rays of optimism bending their way around and through the darkness. 'Sure As The Rain' initially comes across as a hauntingly tragic ballad – like slow dancing in the ashes of the aforementioned apocalypse – only to recognize that the only thing that ever mattered was love: "The better part of everything is you / The world waits before us, come dance with me." 'Bearing Witness' and especially 'There's No Mountain' are two of the most uplifting songs to come out of Hansard's canon, with memorable passages like "It's not what you're given, but what you do with it", "If it comes to blows take it all on the chin, there’s no worthier fight", and "There’s no mountain worth its salt gonna be easy to climb" serving as axioms to live by. Even in Hansard's inherently bleak songwriting, there's always a message of hope to be found: where love is strained, mend it; when time is limited, seize it; if life is ending, start a new one. The most rewarding aspect of Glen Hansard's music is the life-altering meaning the can be gleaned from just about any moment. He's always been a strong lyricist, sure, but between 2019's This Wild Willing and 2023's All That Was East Is West Of Me Now, he has seemingly reached a poetic zenith. Paired with a more rugged/coarse musical approach than his acoustic troubadour days, every line tends to ring out with a sense of unparalleled, down-to-earth beauty. It's melancholic and often mournful, but thanks to Hansard's ability to spin even the most daunting situations as an opportunity to rise to the challenge, his music has also never sounded this full of both life and meaning. The world awaits...will you dance with it?