Fresh as a daisy from those recent force-of-nature Frames gigs, Glen Hansard backs out of that band (and associates Swell Season) into solitary status once again. The follow-up to his 2012 solo debut Rhythm & Repose sees Hansard also back out of that album's occasional abstraction into an area that is classically song-oriented. It's as folksy and simplistic as it can get, and from the outset it's clear that any previous heavy-handedness has been replaced by lighter, airier sensibilities. Intimacy and honesty have always been admirable traits of Hansard's, and while songs such as Grace Beneath the Pines, Wedding Ring, Her Mercy, McCormack's Wall, My Little Ruin and Stay the Road ring profoundly true, they also greatly benefit from unfussy, firmly rooted arrangements. Hansard's best work yet, no doubt.
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