Fans of Glen Hansard, Once, the Frames, and the Swell Season rejoice: The Swell Season is so good that it hurts. Beautifully and thoughtfully shot in high quality black and white, this unbelievable snapshot of the ebb and flow of Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova's relationship during the rise of the Swell Season is an absolute do-not-miss.

It's a documentary about -- well, the technical description goes as follows:

In 2008, Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová captivated audiences with Once, a fictional musical romance that became reality, and led to a jubilant Oscar® win for Best Original Song. As their fictional romance blurred with reality, the couple fell in love, recorded an album, and embarked on a world tour. The Swell Season is an intimate portrait of the couple during this time, following them on tour and chronicling their incredible musical performances.

But what started out as a fairly straight-forward music documentary, albeit one filmed with gorgeous black and white cinematography, became much more. Two years of exhilaration, performance, and psychological turmoil began to take a toll on the pair, and The Swell Season became a portrait of a romance that fractures in the face of life on the road and personal tragedy. Though Glen and Markéta's relationship unhinges, it is the music that ultimately prevails as their enduring connection.

What's staggering about this film, both from a fan perspective as well as one of a thin-skinned heart-on-her-sleeve human being one is the out and out tangibility of it all. Having a front-row seat to the emotional intimacy between Glen and Marketa is almost too much to bear, from the joys and the songwriting sessions to the uncomfortable silences and the falling aparts. At any given moment, we're caught up in the rush and the bliss, the childlike love, the bonding of band members, the familial elements that develop on the road -- and the next transported into Glen's mother's kitchen, witness to parent-son interactions that almost make you feel like you should excuse yourself from the room to let them talk.

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at Paramount Theater (Austin)

Playing a benefit for the Midwive's Alliance of North America on an unsuspecting Monday night, Glen Hansard (Frames, the Swell Season) and Sam Beam (Iron and Wine) blew the roof off of the sold-out Paramount Theater with a few hours of literal perfection. Opening up the night on more of a split bill than a warm-up, Glen took us on an hour-long trip through his diverse catalog: some choice Frames tunes (like "What Happens When the Heart Just Stops" and "Lay Me Down"), new-fan favorites from the Once soundtrack (opening the set with "When Your Mind's Made Up" and the jaw-dropping, haunted, screaming perfection of "Leave"), and a handful of new selections for a taste of the upcoming Swell Season album (most notably a lovely track called "Paper Cup"). Spending the bulk of the set wedged behind the speaker stacks stage left, I had a birds-eye view for everything Glen let loose -- from sheer blissed-out joy to the anguished cries at the ends of particularly staggering verses, and circling back again.

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