The Irish indie-folk duo The Swell Season formed in Dublin in 2005. The pair
consisted of Glen Hansard, a guitarist for the band The Frames, and Markéta
Irglová, a Czechoslovakian singer and pianist. Named for a novel by Josef
Škvorecký, the duo’s self-titled 2006 debut LP failed to gain much traction.
However, filmmaker John Carney cast them as the leads in the 2007 indie musical
drama Once, and the film become a worldwide sleeper hit that brought the duo
international attention and the Best Original Song Oscar for the movie’s
signature balled, the achingly tender “Falling Slowl...