GLEN HANSARD - Don’t Settle Vol 1- Transmissions East

Having a good repertoire isn't enough; you also need the right setting to bring out its power and grace. In this sense, the recent tour by Irish musician Glen Hansard was illuminating. The former Frames frontman, also a member of the duo Swell Season, has not only stripped his songs of any unnecessary frills but has explicitly refused any manipulation, whether during recording or editing, for a potential album. “Don’t Settle Vol 1- Transmissions East” is the first chapter of a project split into two parts, a potential collection of highlights but above all a vivid testament to the artist's live potential. Recorded at the Funkhaus in East Berlin (a hall used for concerts by a German radio station), the album fully conveys the power of Hansard's performances: it's as if every note, every word, gains meaning as well as depth, like watching black-and-white photographs come alive with colour.

The scorching version of "Fitzcarraldo", drawn from the repertoire of his first band The Frames, is a perfect example: the robust rhythm section adds pathos to the instrumental and vocal crescendo, while the violin lends a touch of dramatic poetic emphasis, the same emphasis that, in a different register, animates "My Little Ruin", a melody suspended between singing and whispering that gains substance live until it becomes incendiary.

“Don’t Settle Vol 1- Transmissions East” has the rare merit of not being just another superfluous live album; it's a direct, unguarded testament from a musician who keeps questioning his own role as an artist, digging into his own history (the version of the inevitable traditional song “Carrickfergus”) while at the same time looking to the future in search of an answer or a motivation. It's here that the title track becomes the key to understanding the project: few words, and a strong urge to keep daring — don't settle.

May your song ring true and bright now, look on with your strength, as day gives way to night, may it echo true and strong. And when they use your words against you, when they try to grind you down, let them know they might beat you, but they'll never turn you around. Oh no, don't settle, not yet

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29/05/2026