The Swell Season

UAB’s Alys Stephens Center will present The Swell Season Wednesday, May 26, at 7 p.m., in the center, 1200 10th Ave. South. Tickets are $35 and are on sale now. Call 205-975-2787 or visit www.AlysStephens.org.

Folk rock duo The Swell Season will return to North American shores in May for performances in 13 cities to support their latest recording, “Strict Joy.” “Strict Joy” was one of NPR’s top records of 2009, and Spin magazine gave it four out of five stars.

The duo features Academy Award winners Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová from the 2007 film “Once.” The Swell Season was formed by Hansard, from the Irish band The Frames, and Irglová, a classically-trained Czech pianist and vocalist. Their debut album goes by the same name. The track “Falling Slowly” went on to be nominated for a Grammy Award and win the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2008. The Swell Season has been featured in Rolling Stone magazine, The New York Times and Entertainment Weekly, among others.

The Swell Season recently performed at a sold-out Radio City Music Hall in January and completed a run of European shows in February. The band will be in New Zealand and Australia in April. The Swell Season’s live shows have been described as “cathartic” (Chicago Tribune), “mesmerizing” (Cleveland Plain Dealer) and “magnetic” (Arizona Republic). The Swell Season recently appeared on “The Late Show with David Letterman.”

The event is sponsored by WBHM.