Glen Hansard – All That Was East is West of Me Now
Irish rock musician Glen Hansard’s new album All That Was East is West of Me Now is his first in four years, and was produced, recorded and mixed by David Odlum and mastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering. Glen crafts heartfelt, powerful rock songs with an array of instruments assembled around him. Heavy most of the time, with strings and cello other times, his style is both driving and moving as he smartly dives into the anguish that plagues the human spirit.
“The Feast of St. John” holds a degree of fuzz, lots of cymbals and distortion in a slow tempo number that contains the line that became the title for the album, and is an anguished cry: “Oh, monsters be gone…. they all deserve one another.” “Down On Our Knees” I hear them coming day & night I hear them drumming, they’re drawing nearer coming to take over” exhibits some repetitive rhythmic playing and draws us up in a sense of dark foreboding.
“There’s No Mountain” is more hushed and introspective with Glen singing against the backdrop of strummed acoustic guitar: “And lately in this life there’s no quick fix or easy answers, gonna put all our troubles to right.”
“Between Us There is Music” rides from peaceful vocals with occasional instrumentation then gently up on an orchestral backing with swirling upswells of strings and harmonious choruses and is really quite splendorous. “I can’t take you anywhere.”
Glen Hansard creates his own musical style for sure. Dark, real, and with a sometimes wretched and also sometimes glorious blend of acoustic, soft spokeness turning on a dime into wild spectrals, but always deliberate and conscious.
Find more details on his website here: https://glenhansard.com
Enjoy our previous coverage here: Show Review: Glen Hansard Brought Magic to OKC’s Tower Theatre
Musicians on the project are Earl Harvin on drums and percussion; Joseph Doyle on bass, baritone guitar, guitar and vocals; David Odlum on guitar and synth; Warren Ellis on violin; Ruth O’Mahony-Brady on keyboards, vocals, piano and synths; Glen Hansard on guitar, vocals, mandolin, violin, piano, drums, autoharp and percussion; Rob Bochnik on guitar and vocals; Kate Ellis on cello; Graham Hopkins on percussion and vocals; Piero Perrelli on percussion; Paula Hughes on cello; Katie O’Connor on violin; Una O’Kane on violin, viola and string arrangement; David Hingerty on drums; Gareth Quinn Redmond on strings and arrangement;
Via Mardot on theremin, tubular bells and marxophone; Amelia O’Mahony-Brady on vocals; Breandan Begley on accordion; Rose Morrison on violin; and Dunk Murphy on guitar.