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First Watch: Glen Hansard, 'Winning Streak'

Glen Hansard's career stretches back more than a quarter of a century; in fact, his band The Frames celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. In that time, Hansard has won an Oscar for the song "Falling Slowly" — alongside Marketa Irglova, his co-star in the film Once — and made several albums with Irglova as The Swell Season. Most recently, he launched a solo career with 2012's Rhythm & Repose.

On Sept. 18, Hansard will release that album's follow-up, Didn't He Ramble. Thomas Bartlett (a.k.a. Doveman) produced the record, which features guest appearances by Iron & Wine's Sam Beam, Sam Amidon and others. The first available taste of the record, "Winning Streak," is a charmingly easygoing track that adds to Hansard's impressive catalog of songs conveying warm, hopeful encouragement.

Here's the singer himself, writing via email:

"'Winning Streak' is simply a well wish to a friend, to someone who's been finding it hard to see the goodness in their lives. It's a pat on the back and an encouragement to try see the good and a blessing in the everyday. Each day we're alive is a day we can reinvent or look at life from a different perspective. Nothing changes until we do, so it's a song of encouragement to see these things and act on them."

And here's a track listing for Didn't He Ramble, which can be pre-ordered here or here:

1. Grace Beneath The Pines

2. Wedding Ring

3. Winning Streak

4. Her Mercy

5. McCormack's Wall

6. Lowly Deserter

7. Paying My Way

8. My Little Ruin

9. Just To Be The One

10. Stay The Road

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.)