Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova
Once: Music From The Motion Picture
Sony/BMG


Now that 'Once', that wonderful full length ad for the music of Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, is an official (and worthy) 'Best Original Song' Oscar winner, it's only natural that the soundtrack is getting quite a bit of attention. Glen and Marketa's music cuts straight to the heart- if you're in the right mood, opening track Falling Slowly is enough to make even the sturdiest of people burst into tears. The majority of tracks are sung by Glen, but when Marketa picks up the lead on a track, she's more than capable of making you fall in love with her (which is all the more poignant if you've seen 'Once'). Like the film, it's often depressingly relatable, but hey- if your issues with love can be turned into something so beautiful, things can't really be all that bad, right?

Having said that, however, 'Once' faces very stiff competition on store shelves- itself. The Collector's Edition of the DVD comes packaged with a copy of 'The Swell Season', the album that essentially resulted in the film. If you're going to spend $35 on the DVD/CD combo - which you absolutely should - the soundtrack is a pretty hard sell, especially since the film itself is all about the music. All things considered, 'The Swell Season' is the better album too, and since four of the best tracks appear on both albums, the soundtrack becomes less than essential to fans. The ideal set-up would be to buy the DVD/CD pack, and then head over to iTunes to pick up If You Want Me and Say It To Me Now, solo efforts from each of the singers that prove to be the soundtrack's exclusive standouts, both dripping with beautiful frustration.

James O'Connor