Glen Hansard
This Wild Willing

Perhaps one of the characteristics that mark those albums falling into the broad category defined as "indie" is the general uniformity of the offerings: the definition has lost its meaning over the years and can now be likened to the meaning attributed to the word "fashion." The consequence is a general lack of content or a flatness due to the similarity that sometimes makes it difficult to recognize and distinguish one artist from another. The evolution of the artist's persona follows these trends, which may explain why affection for an artist or a band can suddenly vanish after the release of just one album.

Glen Hansard's journey is the counterproof: it is the demonstration that the assumption above is the classic rule that allows for exceptions, and the Irish singer-songwriter and his process and artistic evolution are a valid example in this regard.

"This Wild Willing" (ANTI-) is another piece in the discography of an artist who each time somehow proves to have surpassed himself in an artistic growth path that goes hand in hand with the increase in his life experiences. The album, after all, has a genesis that we could even define as "literary": the artist arrives in Paris at the end of an exhausting tour after the release of the album "Between Two Shores" (ANTI-, 2018). He must put together the ideas he has gathered for the recording of the new album, but he doesn't know where to start. He wanders the streets of Paris, reads Hemingway, meets new and old friends, and eventually completely overhauls his initial idea (to make an album solely with voice and acoustic guitar) and gives life to an album rich in instrumental arrangements that have particular nuances, given the varied origins of the "roster" members. Among these, the Khoshravesh brothers, met during the Parisian stay, three talented musicians, but they are not the only ones enriching the arrangements with particular instruments like the lute, the kamancheh, or the ney. There's long-time collaborator Joseph Doyle on bass. There's Javier Mas, a Spanish guitarist who also worked with Leonard Cohen.

It is a courageous album because, in the end, he could have simply recorded it with voice and guitar as in the initial intentions; instead, his noble songwriting and his whispered voice, which remain central, are here literally placed at the heart of a context pulsating with life where the sounds seem to move according to the screenplay of a film. The style is very personal; I honestly wouldn't seek out any specific particular reference in the realm of contemporary songwriting: this here is Glen Hansard. It's just that the Dublin busker has traveled a lot over the years and has learned that life, like art, means opening up to the world. He does it in a convincing way, even daring, but without gambling; it's a conscious challenge.