Markéta Irglová on reviving The Swell Season with Glen Hansard, 20 years of Falling Slowly, life in Iceland – and musicals ambitions
Musician Markéta Irglová has had a busy 2025, releasing a new album and touring with Glen Hansard under the name The Swell Season, a joint project that had been dormant for some years. The Czech-Irish pairing famously won an Oscar in 2007 for their song Falling Slowly. First recorded in a studio near Prague, it reached international audiences in Once, as well as a successful musical based on the hit low-budget film. After a full-band tour with The Swell Season earlier in the year, Irglová and Hansard returned to Czechia for a short series of intimate shows in late November. And it was then that I caught up with the former, who lives in Iceland, for a wide-ranging interview.
How has your 2025 been?
“It’s been really good. Lots of music, lots of touring, we released a new record with my friend Glen after 16 years.
“So it’s been an adventure, kind of unlike my previous years in the past decade, because I haven’t been touring much at all and it was fun to do it after all this time.”
What led you and Glen to reconvene the Swell Season after 15 or 16 years?
“It was kind of one little step after another. The first impulse was live shows, when we played together and we saw that people were really excited to see us play still, even though so much time had passed, and that there was demand for Swell Season shows.
“We agreed to do more shows and I really wanted to bring new music as well as [laughs] the beautiful older songs from Once, which we love as much as people do.
“But it just felt nice to bring it a little bit into the present and that we still have something new to offer. We decided to make a couple of singles at our studio in Iceland.
“That was only a four- or five-day session and we realised that we were enjoying working together and Glen really liked our studio and working with my husband Mio, who was the engineer and producer.
“So we just agreed to do more without any sort of commitment to make a full-length record at the beginning – that just kind of developed over time.”
How easy is it to “click” again, to get back into the whole thing, after such a gap?
“Creatively I feel like at the core the same spark is still there, the creative spark, that we can go into a creative place together and bring forth something together which neither one of us would be able to bring forth on our own.
“Because it’s a combination of our two different elements, or approaches to songwriting in general.
“So that was a relief, actually, to see that it’s still there, because we wanted to do more.
“But we’re different people than we used to be, back then. Certainly I feel just in a totally different place. Back then I was still a kind of teenager and we stopped touring together by the time I was 20.
“We’re different people than we used to be. Back then I was still a kind of teenager.”
Markéta Irglová
“But now I’m a woman [laughs], I have children – life is different for me. And a lot of what I’ve experienced in life, and am experiencing, is going into my songs.
“I also have a little more confidence as a writer, so when we get together I’m not looking to just kind of ‘colour’ him and what he brings forth – I want to be represented too, in myself, in the songs.
“I don’t know how that is for Glen, because he’s used to being my teacher, somebody that I look up to, which I do of course still, but the power dynamic is different nowadays.
“I feel like he probably feels that more than me, in terms of the effect of that [laughs].”
Tell us about touring in America. From the photos it looked great – you’re with a gang of people you know well, touring from one cool place to another. Is that the reality?
“Yeah, actually. We are really lucky – we had great management putting the tours together, we had a great band, a great crew, a great audience in every town.
“And there was a real ease to the travelling.
“Of course it’s tiring and it can be difficult and challenging if not everyone is gelling together in the group.
“But in our case it was wonderful, and it was a lot to be grateful for.”
Is America the country where you have the biggest following? Or where you maybe play the biggest venues?
“Yes. Our audience in America is quite unique in that maybe when we play in Czech, which we saw already in České Budějovice, we wouldn’t have a very young audience – our audience would be from 30 up – but in America it really seems like all ages.
“I think that’s thanks to the musical culture in the States. A lot of parents are sharing the movie and the musical with their kids, and the musical has kind of breathed new life into the story and raised a kind of new generation of people that are fans.
“So the energy is quite big in the audience, because people are really behind us. They feel like because they were there at the birth of this story they kind of have a part in it, which they do, and feel like it’s part of their story and their effort as well.
“It always feels like there’s a close bond and people are very warm. It’s a bit of a game of tennis, or something like that – a ball that keeps being thrown back and forth. And it’s fun.”
You’re talking, of course, about the musical of Once. Has that been important for you in terms of generating income? It’s been a big phenomenon in America, right?
“Oh yeah, especially when it was on Broadway, which I think was three years. That’s quite long for a musical to last on Broadway.
“In Czech we wouldn’t have a very young audience, but in America it really seems like all ages.”
Markéta Irglová
“That generated so much income for us. Thanks to that we were able to buy our house, build a studio – me and my husband kind of put it to good use.
“Even though nowadays it’s more like college productions and smaller productions in different countries, so the income wouldn’t be in any way comparable to back then, we’re still able to live from the income generating from the studio that we built.
“You know, we didn’t just spend it on nothing. It’s great to have built something with the money and for the studio to be the embodiment of that grace and abundance.”
I saw that as part of your tour of the States you played at the Newport Folk Festival, which for me is this kind of historical phenomenon – the place where Bob Dylan went electric and all that stuff, when it was a big deal in the ‘60s. What’s it like playing there today?
“It’s wonderful. It’s run by great people who are such fans of music. It’s really respectful. Everybody feels very comfortable. It feels really natural, organic, fun. You always meet very nice people there. I certainly did.
“There’s music happening on every corner, there’s great food, it’s right by the water.
“I know one of the organisers a little bit. His name is Jay Sweet and I asked him, After the movie, A Complete Unknown, you must be getting a lot of publicity and a new audience?
“And he said, We absolutely didn’t need it – we sell out within hours of putting the tickets on sale. And they don’t even announce who’s playing that year when they start selling the tickets.
“People just love going there for the atmosphere – and I understand why.”
Getting back to performing with Glen, some of the songs that you do together are solo or almost solo, like I Leave Everything to You on Forward, where it’s really your song. This is a total layman’s question, but what’s the difference between doing a song on your own and singing with somebody in a very close way?
“I think it’s very individual, who you’re singing with.
“There’s something very special about singing with Glen. I do feel there’s something about the fact that we’re sort of polar opposites that when we sing together, or play together, there’s another element that is created just by uniting those two.
“So I feel like there’s a lot of energy around it for me when I sing with Glen. And I like it.
“I like that it’s something that I can’t create on my own. It’s nice to let something else enter the equation that you’re not in control of, that you’re not generating, but it’s there and you benefit from either letting it pass through or letting it sort of fill the space in between.
“Thanks to [the Once musical] we were able to buy our house, build a studio.”
Markéta Irglová
“It almost feels a little bit like alchemy, which is something I think is beautiful.
“But I also enjoy being on my own. I didn’t in the beginning – it was a real struggle for me to get used to it.
“It wasn’t my choice to stop playing together when we did. And I really, really had to work on finding my confidence and even the passion for continuing music on my own.
“But that was something that sort of kept me going and over time I realised what it is that I like doing on my own, and I kind of enjoy the process of going deeper and deeper into that.
“What I do is way more feminine that what we do together. He brings a lot of masculine, so in the end we kind of meet in the middle.
“But it’s also nice to kind of go into the stuff that I do so fully.”
You say that you’re completely opposite personality types – how would you characterise each of you?
“If I simplify it, it’s a little bit like the yin and the yang. It’s the man and the woman, the feminine principle and the masculine principle.
“But then it’s also I enjoy things being kind of polished and beautiful and Glen likes the raw and stripped back.
“I have this slightly classical background that influences me, and musicals, while he is really influenced by rock and grew up with the whole street school of music.
“I also like to practise ahead and he doesn’t like that – he just likes things to happen in the moment, with the mistakes and all.
“What else? There’s a whole bunch. His expression is a lot more fiery and earthy, and I’m more like water and air.
“And he’s way more dynamic than I can ever be, but when I sing with him I’m able to push myself more and further than I would be able to on my own.”
Who do you regard as your biggest influences as a musician and songwriter?
“Definitely the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. I discovered it when I was so little.
“I was four years old when I watched it and it really left a mark; I kept watching it over and over and listening to the music.
“I learned the songs phonetically in English, even though I didn’t speak it at the time.
“It wasn’t my choice to stop playing together when we did. And I really had to work on finding my confidence.”
Markéta Irglová
“After that I saw Hair, which I loved for very similar reasons. And then I saw Amadeus by Miloš Forman as well and I loved that so much.
“Once I met Glen it kind of hit a reset button for me, because I tried to me more like him, kind of in a folky direction, and to sing songs close to what he was doing creatively.
“And now when I look back over my own songs and albums I realise that the musicals left a big impression on me in a way that I didn’t really realise before – that I write my songs as conversations, that I enjoy being able to sort of lean into that, and that I want to do more of it in the future.
“But at the same time I did like songs that I would have listened to as a kid by Leonard Cohen, although not sung by Leonard Cohen – the Czech versions. Or Simon and Garfunkel.
“So I also had that, but my biggest is for sure Jesus Christ Superstar.”
And if you’re in New York will you go to musicals? Will you go to Broadway and take in some shows?
“Yeah. When I’m there I try to go see something. But even more than that [laughs] I’m going to try and get my own musical into that world.
“That’s my next sort of ambition. I already wrote one and I just have to figure out how to get it out there, basically.”
Wow – watch this space. I guess up to now, anyway, your best known song is Falling Slowly, which was first recorded exactly 20 years ago at Sono Records studio near Prague. I presume you must play the song every time you perform. But all these years later, what’s your relationship to Falling Slowly?
“I love it. It’s like an old friend, or a child that’s kind of out in the world having its own life, but you still have this kind of bond with it. You know that it came from you, but it’s not yours, kind of thing.
“I have heard so many versions by so many people and I really love hearing people cover our song. It’s such a special feeling.
“I love playing it to this day, most of all, of course, with Glen, because that’s how it was intended [laughs], although both of us will play it in our own respective sets, maybe with a friend or maybe with someone from the audience.
“But I never get tired of it, never get bored of it, never switch to auto-pilot.
“I’m always in the moment with this song, and every now and then it sort of brings me right back to singing it on the Oscars stage, or right back to the day when we wrote it, or right to the streets of Dublin, when we were making Once, so it carries a lot.”
You mention the Oscars. For me, your Oscars speech is still one of the greatest Oscars moments. It’s so powerful and you spoke so well and so articulately. When you look back at that particular moment, what are your strongest memories?
“The strongest memory is probably the walking to the microphone, across the stage, and it sort of hitting me in that moment.
“Because I think I was so high on the experience, of the euphoria of having won, that I wasn’t really taking in what was happening right after.
“I remember there was some talk of me going back on stage, but I didn’t really understand what they wanted me to do. And I thought maybe I’m speaking to the audience during a commercial break, because I’ve never ever seen it done that they would bring anybody back on stage.
“To be honest, I never even realised that they switched off my mic when I said thank you, which was all I planned to say.
“So I was very confused as to what was being asked of me [laughs], but I would have said yes to anything in that moment, I think.
“And then I’m walking to the microphone and everybody’s sort of quiet in their seats and I’m realising, Oh, this is for real.”
And your words were improvised?
“They were, absolutely yeah. Because our dynamic, especially at the time, was that Glen would do all the talking; he was very good at that.
“We received a tape before going to the ceremony with Tom Hanks sort of preparing the nominees for what to expect. The thing that stuck with me from the tape was that from the time that your name is called out to the time they want you off the stage is only 60 seconds, so don’t waste time hugging everybody and make your way to the stage as quickly as possible. Don’t go listing off names you want to thank, but say something meaningful and from the heart.
“I watch the Oscars every year and I always bring the statue onto our living room table and we have it there in front of us as we watch.”
Markéta Irglová
“And I was like, Right, if we should find ourselves in that position, you [Glen] just say something and I’ll say thank you, so that we’re not abusing our welcome.
“And that was our plan [laughs] – I didn’t have a single thing prepared.
“And then, once I was there, I knew exactly what I wanted to say.
“But I’m still glad the words came, in that moment.”
Do you follow the Oscars? Or do you feel like you have any relationship to the Oscars now? It was such a huge moment for you but at the same time it’s absolutely, 1,000 percent showbiz, which you don’t seem to be.
“No, I love the Oscars. I watch it every year and I always bring the statue from the studio onto our living room table and we have it there in front of us as we watch it.
“It still has a lot of class – it’s a celebration.
“Actually I like the Oscars more after being there than I did before. I felt the energy in the room and was able to compare it, for example, to the Grammys, which I didn’t like at all.
“But the vibe at the Oscars was beautiful. It was kind of like Christmas, you know: everyone’s coming together to celebrate each other, everybody already feels like a winner just by being in the room, and they’re all friends sort of cheering each other on.
“It’s a real sort of happening.”
You’re also a member of the Czech Film and TV Academy, because you won a Czech Lion. Do you watch all the films? Do they send them to you?
“They do send them, yeah. I don’t manage to watch them all, but I try to watch as much as I can.
“Actually [laughs] after entering it I was having sort of trouble keeping up with it every year – because back then I was busy – and I actually asked them if I could leave the committee, because I wasn’t managing.
“But they were like, No, you can’t [laughs].
“They’ve since changed it, but it’s nice being there, because I get to see what’s happening, and get to go to the ceremony when I can make it over.
“Yeah, it’s a thing that I certainly appreciate.”
On a different topic entirely, this evening you’re playing in Prague and tomorrow you’re playing in Hradec Králové at the Petrof Hall. I’ve seen many photos of you with Petrof pianos – are you in some way associated with Petrof?
“It’s kind of turning into a little bit of a grey area for me, because I am officially a Steinway artist, based on the fact that I bought a Steinway piano for my studio, about 14 years ago.
“But then I had the honour of christening one of the Petrof pianos in my hometown, in the cultural centre, when they bought it.
“And when I played the piano, I thought, Wow, this is a really great instrument, this is completely comparable to my Steinway at home.
“I played a whole concert on this piano – just me, like a recital – and then I met the Petrof family after the concert; they were all there and they were so wonderful.
“We had a great time chatting with them and we just sort of decided, Let’s do something together, because we’ve really enjoyed tonight.
“So they invited me, and then me and Glen, to do one of their unplugged sessions – I think it’s called Petrof Acoustic Sessions – where we played three songs in their showroom.
“I asked them if it would be OK to make one of our videos for a song from our new record in the factory, which was a cool space, so we did.
“They were very nice about that, very accommodating, and we thought, Let’s do a concert at the hall, maybe once the [full-band] tour is done and we can come back.
“So now we’re playing there and I have to say I’m looking forward to it, and I’m really glad for the connection that’s been established between us.
“Because I’m very proud of them as a company from my homeland and I’m especially proud that there are such nice people running it – it isn’t all business for them, they really want to do it well, they have all these initiatives that I value and appreciate.
“And I think if I was buying a piano today I would certainly get a Petrof, after the experience with their gorgeous grand piano.”
In connection with the release this year of your album Forward with the Swell Season you made a very nice film with a lot of home recordings. We see your family and inside your home, and your studio – is it the case that your studio is part of your house?
“Yes, the studio is on the upper floor and we live on the bottom floor.”
Does that mean you’ll just wander in there any time and start playing? Do you feel like you need to go there? Is it also used by other people?
“Most of the time it’s used by me and my husband. My husband is an engineer and producer also with other people, so sometimes he’ll have a project that he brings in and he’ll work on it at the studio.
“But he wouldn’t just take any project – it’s always people that he feels he can connect with and enjoys the music of.
“So we don’t run it as a commercial studio that way.
“We also have very clear work hours, because we have three relatively small children still.
“We try to keep it from 9 to 4 or 5 and after that we’re just downstairs in our flat and making dinner and hanging out with the kids.
“And sometimes when they go to sleep we run back up to finish whatever we didn’t get to finish during the day.
“But I kind of like it this way – there’s a clear sort of rhythm to the day.”
Generally, what’s your life like in Iceland? It looks amazing there – any time I see any images, including in your film or in photos, I think, What a phenomenal looking place.
“It really is a wonderful place. We kind of live inside a bit of a bubble, in our world – we don’t go many places.
“Everything is close by. We have our life on our little peninsula – because where we live is a little peninsula about 10 minutes from Reykjavik that has the sea from three sides – and it feels remote, even though we’re so close to the biggest town in Iceland.
“That’s nice, because we have access to culture and stuff. But otherwise we’re just doing our thing, working on something in the studio or picking our kids up from school, playing with them, making dinner – so our lives are very, very simple.
“We don’t go much outside of our house [laughs], except for walks with the dogs.
“But it’s so nice and we’re so lucky to have such a nice life.
“But we don’t really take advantage of the incredible nature in Iceland the way tourists do, or anybody who comes in from the outside – all those people have seen way more of Iceland in one week than I have in the last 14 years.”
I always have the impression that Iceland is… not the end of the world, but a very isolated place – next stop America. Are there any downsides to living there?
“Oh yeah, of course. Any place has downsides and upsides.
“The downsides in Iceland I would perceive would be that you are reliant on flying everywhere, and flights are expensive.
“I miss that idea of sitting in your car and just driving and just ending up somewhere. You might end up across the border in another country in a few hours – and there’s a great freedom to that; you can experience other cultures or find new places.
“[Tourists] have seen way more of Iceland in one week than I have in the last 14 years.”
Markéta Irglová
“You are sort of isolated there, and that’s very much felt.
“Then I miss, as a person who grew up in Czech, the four seasons and trees and a proper fall. Because there they divide it into two seasons [laughs]: summer and winter.
“But then at the same time sky is so beautiful there. And with the 24-hour daylight in the summertime it totally makes up for that, by all means.
“But the isolation is the part that I would feel the most limiting – and perhaps the only one.”
What about language? You say you have three relatively smaller kids – what language do you speak with them? Because I know you speak Icelandic, you also have amazing English and you’re Czech.
“Actually, all three. We switch a lot, which is why my brain is so tired by the end of each day – I can hardly put a sentence together, to be honest [laughs].
“I do want to make an effort to speak Czech with the kids – it’s important to me – but it is hard to do it there as the only person who speaks Czech.
“Because sometimes when a person says a sentence in a certain language you automatically answer in the same language, so it’s a constant effort to switch back to the other language. And it is tiring, though it’s worth it, of course.
“Me and my husband keep switching between Icelandic and English. And then we watch all the TV and films in English with our kids.
“So it’s a constant switching of languages in our home [laughs].”
How do your kids like coming here?
“They love it, yeah. They are half-Czech, after all.
“I’d say my daughter has the deepest connection to being half-Czech. She’s been speaking Czech since she was a kid and says she’ll go to university here and she’ll move here when she’s big.
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“I don’t know if it’ll happen, but just the fact it’s something she’s thinking about shows that she does feel connected to the place.
“My kids really love their grandparents and they love coming to visit them. We always have such a nice time here.
“And it’s exciting, you know – to feel like you belong to two different places and you have a claim to both of them.”
My final question: What will next year bring for you? Or what do you hope it brings for you?
“I hope that the journey I’m trying to embark upon with the whole musical world, and especially with the musical that I’ve written, can sort of get some traction.
“I hope I meet people that can help me make it happen.
“Because with a project like that you do actually need other people. I can write a song any day on my own, but with films and musicals it takes a whole village.
“So that’s kind of what I’m putting out there as an intention into the world. I hope that can be my next chapter, because that’s the thing that I’m really excited about at the moment.”
