The Swell Season – “Great Weight” [Video]

The Swell Season Return With Stirring New Single “Great Weight”

After a sixteen-year pause, The Swell Season are back—and moving Forward. The Oscar-winning duo of Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová have just dropped their fourth single, “Great Weight,” a sweeping, soul-searching tune from their first album together since 2009’s Strict Joy. The full LP Forward now lands July 11, bumped slightly from its original June date. Produced by Thorisson and recorded at his and Irglova’s Masterkey Studios in Iceland, Forward is now available for pre-order.

The new track is both turbulent and cathartic, with Hansard reflecting: “It’s about shaking off burdens that don’t belong to you anymore. A kind of weather report from the eye of a storm—violent, yes, but clearing.” The instrumentation builds with that signature Swell Season intensity, giving the feeling of stumbling into sunlight after a long, emotional downpour. It’s a fresh chapter from artists who’ve always chosen honesty over polish.

Hansard and Irglová—who first captured hearts with the 2007 film Once and its Academy Award-winning song “Falling Slowly”—reconnected over a few shows in 2022. That spark led to more touring, a new batch of songs, and finally, a full-blown reunion in Irglová’s Iceland studio. “It felt right to call the record Forward,” she says. “We’re not rehashing the past—we’re writing from who we are now.”

“Great Weight” feels like exactly that: a new era, but with the same emotional resonance that’s always set them apart.

Watch the new video now and catch The Swell Season on tour across the U.S. and Canada at the dates below.

The Swell Season live dates
7/12 – Cincinnati, OH – Taft Theatre
7/13 – Indianapolis, IN – Murat Theatre
7/15 – Milwaukee, WI – Riverside Theater
7/16 – Minneapolis, MN – Orpheum Theatre
7/18 – Chicago, IL – Auditorium Theatre
7/19 – Detroit, MI – The Fillmore Detroit
7/21 – Toronto, ON – Massey Hall
7/23 – Rochester, NY – Kodak Center
7/25 – Northampton, MA – The Pines Theater
7/26 – Brooklyn, NY – Kings Theatre
7/29 – Philadelphia, PA – The Met
7/31 – Greenville, SC – Peace Center
8/01 – Durham, NC – Durham Performing Arts Center
8/02 – Atlanta, GA – The Woodruff Arts Center
9/09 – St. Louis, MO – The Factory
9/10 – Kansas City, MO – The Midland Theatre
9/12 – Dallas, TX – The Majestic Theater
9/13 – Austin, TX – ACL Live at The Moody Theater
9/15 – Santa Fe, NM – Lensic Performing Arts Center
9/16 – Mesa, AZ – Mesa Arts Center (Ikeda Theater)
9/19 – Los Angeles, CA – The Greek Theatre
9/20 – San Francisco, CA – The Masonic
9/22 – Portland, OR – Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
9/23 – Vancouver, BC – The Orpheum Theatre
9/24 – Seattle, WA – The Paramount Theatre