Swell Season releases a melancholy album of post-breakup music, titled 'Strict Joy'

The Swell Season, 'Strict Joy' (Anti-)

Boy loses girl, boy meets new girl, boy and girl make lovely, love- and pain-filled music.

That's essentially the gist of "Once," the Grammy and Oscar-winning 2007 movie that snagged audiences with its soundtrack featuring the film's stars, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova.

Irish singer-songwriter Hansard, frontman of the Frames, and Czech singer-pianist Irglova not only fell in love in real life, but formed a band, the Swell Season.

Then the couple broke up. But that didn't end their musical relationship.

The group's new album, "Strict Joy," while not as immediately ear-grabbing as the "Once" soundtrack, troves that sensitive, post breakup territory with beautiful, mostly subtle tunes in hushed acoustic tones.

The album showcases Hansard's impassioned voice and lyrics on numbers such as the soulful single "Low Rising," layered with harmonies from Irglova.

It's her gorgeous, understated vibrato that really makes the Swell Season worthy of attention.

Solvej Schou, The Associated Press

More releases this week

Michael Jackson, "This Is It" (Sony)

Pink Martini, "Splendor in the Grass" (Heinz)

R.E.M., "Live at the Olympia" (Warner Bros.)

Sting, "If on a Winter's Night" (Deutsche Grammophon)