It Was Triumph We Once Proposed…Songs of Jason Molina Glen Hansard

• 1 Being in Love 05:43
• 2 Hold on Magnolia 07:50
• 3 Farewell Transmission 07:15
• 4 Vanquisher 02:16
• 5 White Sulfur 02:18
• Total Runtime 25:22

Info for It Was Triumph We Once Proposed…Songs of Jason Molina

Upon the passing of Jason Molina, Glen Hansard gathered friends Jeff Panall, Jennie Benford and Dan and Rob Sullivan, who had recorded and toured with Jason for years in Songs:Ohia and were the core musicians on the Magnolia Electric Co. album. For one afternoon, in a recording studio, they all forgot about the pain and plowed through a number of their favorite Molina originals, serving as both therapy and tribute to their fallen friend. All proceeds go to the estate of Jason Molina. Covering five Songs:Ohia tracks. Artwork by Jason Molina.

"In the spirit of Jason we went and we booked a studio, and we went and we kind of grieved over the music. It was beautiful. He had given all of his band members kind of gifts in the last, last time he had seen most of them. He was just handing stuff away. And he'd given me a box of things, lyrics and paintings that he'd done. He always was a great artist. For the cover of this record that we're putting out we used one of the drawings that was in that box. It was wonderful to get into the studio and just sit with these guys. It was an important way of marking his passing.

"Music, as we all know, has this strange transcendent nature. When it's great, it just goes above and beyond lyric, melody, recording device, instrument, it goes beyond all of those things and turns into a feeling. And when a feeling hits you, that's what you honor, you honor the feeling. Forget about getting it right, or singing it right. It was never about 'Is it in tune?' or 'Is it right?.' It's about 'Do I believe it?' and the best compliment you can give any singer is 'I believe you when you sing.' And I believed every word that guy sang and so all I tried to do was sing the song as best I could in the memory of that belief." (Glen Hansard)

"Rather than diluting Lewis' appeal, the mainstream-accessible, arena-sized sound of Eclipse feels like it's unlocking the potential for Lewis to reach new heights with his indie-dressed soul-pop." (Spin)

"In many ways, this is Hansard’s final fan letter. Each song feels like a poignantly delivered eulogy for a harrowing life. “Hold on Magnolia” may be the saddest of Molina’s many sad songs, but hearing Hansard sing these words when we know Molina never will again is devastating. It feels like one last plea when Hansard coos, “No one should have to be that strong/ But if you’re stubborn like me/ I know what you’re trying to be.” The bright side at the end is that Molina’s voice lives on in his music. Artists like Hansard know just how important it is to preserve his work. As Molina declared on “Farewell Transmission”: “I will be gone, but not forever.” (Dusty Henry, consequence.net)

Glen Hansard

Glen Hansard
With a host of real-life songs and lilting vocals that reflect a passion for his influences (particularly Van Morrison, Leonard Cohen, and Bob Dylan), Glen Hansard is best known for his work with the Frames and the Swell Season. Born to a working-class Dublin family during the spring of 1970, he left school at age 13 in search of making music his career. He began busking in the streets of Dublin, laying the groundwork for his engaging stage persona and, ironically, mimicking the plot line of Once, the movie that would later make him a star in multiple countries. By his late teens, Hansard had recorded his first demo with the help of his Mum, who'd lent him some money for the project. One of the 50 tapes he pressed landed in the hands of Island Records' Denny Cordell, a former producer who'd previously helped bring Tom Petty and Joe Cocker to the Island roster. Upon a meeting at Cordell's flat, the 17-year-old Hansard also met Ron Wood, Marianne Faithfull, and Stewart Copeland. The meeting, to say the least, left a lasting impression on Hansard, and in the end, Cordell signed him with the approval of Island founder Chris Blackwell.

From there, Hansard quickly gathered a group of fellow buskers and formed the Frames. Unfortunately, quick accolades proved daunting for Hansard and the Frames, whose grunge-influenced release Another Love Song came and went without selling much. Island Records responded by dropping the group. To distract himself from the disappointment, Hansard took on the role of Outspan Foster, a guitarist in the famed Alan Parker film The Commitments. He would later admit that he shouldn't have taken the role, as it merely placated his struggle with making music. But a trip to New York gave Hansard the space and time to dream it all up again, and with a newfound focus, he wrote the guitar-blazing anthem "Revelate" and "Say It to Me Now." Both songs eventually landed on the Frames' proper debut album, Fitzcarraldo, which was released in 1996 and helped make the Frames a popular group in Ireland.

Over the next decade, Hansard and the Frames continued releasing albums while also becoming one of Ireland's finest live acts. In 2003, Hansard played host to Other Voices: Songs from a Room, a popular television show featuring Ireland's best in new music. Three years later, while the Frames readied the release of their sixth effort, The Cost, Hansard unveiled a new side project called the Swell Season. The acoustic-based group featured his collaborations with Czech songstress Markéta Irglová. He and Irglová also appeared as working-class immigrants in the Irish movie Once, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007 and won an Oscar later that year. Thanks to the movie's success (not to mention its popular soundtrack, Once: Music from the Motion Picture, which featured the band's music), the Swell Season became a popular act in Ireland and abroad, leading to the release of a mature sophomore album in 2009. 2012's Anti-released Rhythm and Repose, the solo debut from Hansard, was produced by Thomas Bartlett (the National, Antony & the Johnsons) and inspired by the singer/songwriter's year-and-a-half spent as a denizen of New York City. Later in 2012 Hansard's track "Take the Heartland" appeared on the Hunger Games soundtrack, and the following year he recorded a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Drive All Night" with Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, which was included on an Anti-issued EP of same name in November in aid of music education charity Little Kids Rock.

This album contains no booklet.