Today, The Swell Season has shared the new single, “Factory Street Bells,” which is from their forthcoming first new album in 16 years, Forward, that will be out on June 13. “Factory Street Bells” builds from a spare and gentle opening to a cathartic peak filled with strings, horns and group vocals. And out now is the music video that was filmed during the album’s recording by Irglova and producer Sturla Mio Thorisson at their Masterkey Studios in Iceland.
“We live on a street in Helsinki called Tehtaankatu (Factory Street,) in former shipyard workers flats. There’s a church on our street with a very distinctive hourly bell pattern,” explains Glen Hansard. “Christy, my son, has always visibly enjoyed the bells…and when leaving for work I’d promise him, I’ll be back as soon as I can, and in the meantime, the bells would remind him of my love and return.”
When 16 years have passed since the release of their beloved duo’s previous album, 2009’s Strict Joy, it might be expected that Hansard and Markéta Irglová would title a new collection of The Swell Season songs as something commemorative or reflective instead of the succinct Forward. But, as anyone who has followed their career will tell you, The Swell Season doesn’t exactly do things the typical way.
Photo Credit: Stephen Hoffmeister
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