It's not enough to have a good repertoire, you also need the right dress to enhance its power and grace. The recent tour of the Irish musician Glen Hansard was enlightening in this sense. The ex-Frames, as well as a member of the duo Swell Season, not only stripped his songs of useless frills but expressly refused any manipulation both in the recording and production phases. editing for a possible album. “Don't Settle Vol 1- Transmissions East” is the first chapter of a project divided into two parts, a potential collection of hits but above all a vivid testimony of the artist's live potential. Recorded at the Funkhaus in East Berlin (a hall used for German radio concerts), the album fully reflects the power of Hansard's performances: it is as if every note, every word, acquires meaning but also depth, it is like finding yourself observing black and white photos that come to life and colour.
The biting version of “Fitzcarraldo”, taken from the repertoire of the first band The Frames, is exemplary in this sense: the robust rhythm section adds pathos to the instrumental and vocal crescendo, at the same time the violin gives a bit of dramatic poetic emphasis, the same emphasis that with different tones animates “My Little Ruin”, a melody poised between singing and whispering which in the live dimension acquires depth to the point of becoming incendiary.
“Don't Settle Vol 1 – Transmissions East” has the rare merit of not being the usual superfluous live album, it is a direct and naked testimony of a musician who continues to question himself about his role as an artist, sinking his hands into his own history (the version of the inevitable traditional song “Carrickfergus”) and at the same time turning his gaze to the future in search of an answer or a motivation, and it is here that the title track becomes the key to understanding the project, a few words and a great desire to dare again: don't settle.
May your song ring true and bright now, watch with your strength, as day gives way to night, may it ring true and loud. And when they use your words against you, they will try to crush you into the ground, let them know that they may beat you, but they will never turn you over. Oh no, don't settle, not yet
05/29/2026
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
