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Glen Hansard: Tiny Desk Concert

Glen Hansard dropped out of school at 13 to busk on the streets of Dublin full-time, and he's spent the nearly three decades since performing in many configurations: at the head of the rock band The Frames, on stage at the Oscars with Marketa Irglova (they won in 2008 for "Falling Slowly," from Once), at innumerable concert halls and opera houses in The Swell Season (the band he formed with Irglova), in arenas with Bob Dylan, and even singing a recent duet with Bono in New York City. In other words, Hansard isn't one to wither under the not-so-hot lights of the NPR Music offices, where he and Irglova once set a record for Longest Tiny Desk Concert Ever, at seven songs in 34 minutes.

Swinging through Washington, D.C., in advance of his fine new solo album, Rhythm and Repose, Hansard stuck mostly to recent material this time around, but he still threw in a pair of surprises: "Lucia," a not-quite-finished song he sometimes trots out in concert, and one of two tunes he recorded for theHunger Games movie, "Come Away to the Water." (Maroon 5's Adam Levine ended up recording the version on the film's soundtrack album, because life is unkind that way sometimes.)

While Rhythm and Repose often feels like a low-key '70s singer-songwriter record (think Cat Stevens or Van Morrison), this set gives Hansard a chance to flex his neck muscles a bit, as he lends blustery force to songs like "Bird of Sorrow" and "Love Don't Leave Me Waiting." But, as always, he's in complete command throughout — whether in whispers, in screams, or anywhere in between.

Set List:

  • "Love Don't Leave Me Waiting"
  • "Bird Of Sorrow"
  • "Come Away To The Water"
  • "Lucia"
  • "The Song Of Good Hope"
  • Credits:

    Producer: Stephen Thompson; Editor and Videographer: Michael Katzif; Audio Engineer: Kevin Wait; photo by Emily Bogle/NPR

    Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

    Stephen Thompson is a writer, editor and reviewer for NPR Music, where he speaks into any microphone that will have him and appears as a frequent panelist on All Songs Considered. Since 2010, Thompson has been a fixture on the NPR roundtable podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, which he created and developed with NPR correspondent Linda Holmes. In 2008, he and Bob Boilen created the NPR Music video series Tiny Desk Concerts, in which musicians perform at Boilen's desk. (To be more specific, Thompson had the idea, which took seconds, while Boilen created the series, which took years. Thompson will insist upon equal billing until the day he dies.)