Check out the new song below:

Following a period of collaboration with Eddie Vedder, Cat Power and his old band The Frames, Hansard rediscovered the raw power of distorted guitars and group chemistry, a revelation which directly informed the songwriting and recording on his new album. Early last year, when the record was still in the early stages of conception, the singer explained:

“I’m kind of going back to stuff I thought I’d left behind. Big electric guitars. It’s actually more in the area of The Frames. I’ve just missed playing with a band so much over the past two years. It’s still raw as hell right now. It’s all one take, straight band stuff. I was touring with a big band for a long while, but now I’ve gone right back to bass, drums, guitar and piano. And I’m loving it. There’s always that classic irony, where the less people you have, the bigger it can sound – because you’re listening to every note, and every note means something.”

All That Was East Is West Of Me Now, however, only truly began taking shape through a series of word-of-moth gigs Hansard arranged at a small local pub in late 2022. Believing that songs only become what they are in the presence of an audience, the singer took to the stage to present new material and unfinished ideas, which ultimately helped piece the new record together.

In a press release, Hansard elaborates: “I told no one. We set up in the corner and played to the locals, some of whom were only half listening. A collection of farmers and workers, dart players, pool sharks. I played two hours of new songs each week, some songs finished, some half-baked. Through this process I realized what I had and what I had to work on further – which songs landed and which ones were only good in my imagination. It solidified my choices right away. It was as if the album appeared in that bar. And not before.”

While the album sees Hansard reconnect with his musical roots, the title, which the singer says stems from the “sudden realisation that there’s more behind than ahead”, also suggests a lyrically reflective body of work.

Pre-order All That Was East Is West Of Me Now here.

Catch Glen Hansard on tour:

30/10/2023 – The London Palladium – London
31/10 – RNCM Theatre – Manchester
13/12 – Vicar Street – Dublin
15/12 – Leisureland – Galway
16/12 – St. Columb’s Hall – Derry
18/12 – Ulster Hall – Belfast
19/12 – City Hall – Cork

Tickets available here.

Directed by Andrew Dominik (Chopper, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Blonde), the forthcoming film follows on from the 2016 documentary “One More Time With Feeling” which came in the wake of tremendous tragedy at the loss of Cave’s 15-year-old son Arthur. The film included 35 minutes of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds performing works from the album Skeleton Tree at Air Studios.

Take in the haunting new performance of “Ghosteen speaks” down below:

“This Much I Know To Be True” will feature songs from the albums Ghosteen and Carnage. Performed by a prestigious ensemble of vocalists and strings that will breathe a renewed spirit into the stories. The documentaries’ purpose was described here, stating; “Interstitial pieces between the songs illuminate the cosmology and themes of the music. We hear about the process of Nick writing The Red Hand Files – the letters he chooses to answer and the replies themselves – giving us an insight into his current concerns in life and music, and into the method by which he is able to bring his own thoughts and feelings into order. We also visit the workshop where he is creating a series of sculptures depicting the life of the Devil – a portrait of the lives of all of us as we move from innocence to experience, attune to the world and its attendant loss, and eventually confront our own mortality.”

“THIS MUCH I KNOW TO BE TRUE reaches into the deep friendship and personal relationship between Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, something glimpsed in the 2014 Cave pseudo-documentary, 20,000 Days on Earth. The film will prove to be another significant moment in the journeys of Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, capturing the mood and spirit of the pair as they move through a new, optimistic phase.”

This latest film will be released in cinemas on the 11^th of May 2022. Tickets are available here.  The trailer which dropped on the 23^rd of March 2022 can be found below:

Nick Cave is currently blazing through a North American headline tour in support of the album Carnage, marking the first-ever US Tour shared by Cave and Ellis as a duo.

As the government comes under fire for PPE shortages and the health secretary distorts official figures to save face, two years on that optimism feels naïvely misplaced. Even so, IDLES’ call for positivity in times of hardship has become more vital than ever, something the band took to heart last Friday when they released footage of their entire set at Le Bataclan for free (watch below).

The band spent last week doing daily streams of the show followed by live Q&A sessions with each member. As of Friday (the 1st of May) in an effort to bring comfort to housebound fans, the set was made available via their YouTube channel to view on demand. 

All next week at 19:00 BST we're doing screenings of our Bataclan show on @youtubemusic. Subscribe for info & notifications at https://t.co/aRQkgIwydM.

We'll be doing a live Q&A with @AFGANGAF hero Brian straight after screenings. Ask questions live or comment below x pic.twitter.com/3knymVUPXN

— I D L E S (@idlesband) April 24, 2020

Filmed at the iconic Parisian theatre, the set was the final show in the Bristol outfit’s 2018 world tour and spawned the live album A Beautiful Thing, released in December last year. In the liner notes, Talbot said of the recording:

“Our show at Bataclan was the end of a very long journey for us. On that tour we learnt so much about ourselves, each other and the audiences we have grown with over the past 10 years. That show was nothing short of catharsis and nothing more than love. We love what we do and the people who have carried us here, there was no hiding that at Bataclan and we are so very grateful that the moment was captured in all its glory, love and fatigue. Long live the open minded and long live the moment”

As far back as September 2019, the Bristol outfit have been ramping up anticipation for a follow-up to Joy… by posting shots of the studio on their social media (not to mention teasing appearances from Bad Seeds member Warren Ellis and producer Kenny Beats no less) but as of now, no official announcement of a third album has been made. Good thing we’ve got this to see us through.