Peter BurrowsAs a huge fan of The Frames, I’ve always had a complicated relationship with Glen Hansard as a solo artist. That has nothing to do with his talent. I genuinely think Hansard belongs among the finest songwriters of our generation. It’s simply that the Frames catalogue connects with me emotionally in a way almost nothing else does. Those songs feel lived in, hard-earned, and deeply personal.
A Venue Built for Atmosphere
But Don’t Settle (Vol. 1 – Transmission East) is different. Recorded live over two nights in Berlin’s legendary Funkhaus in front of a 600-strong audience, the album captures something uniquely alive. Funkhaus itself is an inspired setting. It is an iconic former East German broadcasting complex whose vast recording halls somehow manage to sound both expansive and intimate at the same time. The room gives the music incredible depth and warmth, yet never loses the immediacy of a live performance. You can almost feel the air moving between the band and the audience.
Don’t Settle
Musically, this album leans hard into funk, blues, and improvisation. Glen Hansard leads on vocals and guitar, supported by a deeply experienced live ensemble that includes long-time collaborators from The Frames‘ world, alongside brass, sax, keys, and a rhythm section that gives the whole record its pulse and elasticity. It’s rawer and rockier, but still unmistakably Glen Hansard. More than anything, it feels like art for art’s sake. A group of musicians stretching out, riffing on familiar material, and following instinct wherever it leads. There’s a freedom to it that makes the whole record feel vital. Hansard’s genius has always been amplified in a live setting, and this album captures that perfectly.
The title track is one of the album’s standout moments. It opens with Glen Hansard alone in a quietly introspective space on guitar and vocal, before gradually building as the band enters and the arrangement begins to open up. The loud-quiet-loud dynamic that Pixies helped define is something both the Frames and Hansard have long since perfected in their own way. As the full ensemble locks in, the song swells and crashes in waves, each crescendo feeling earned rather than forced, until it finally bursts open in a cathartic climax that feels like a collective release rather than a solo spotlight moment.
A Personal Caveat
The only real low point for me, as someone who has lived with these songs for years, is the inclusion of “Fitzcarraldo.” That’s an entirely personal criticism rather than an objective one. For me, only Colm Mac Con Iomaire can make that song truly soar. His violin playing on the original version doesn’t just accompany the track. It elevates it into something transcendent. Hearing anyone else tackle those parts inevitably feels lesser by comparison. I suspect even Hansard himself might quietly agree.
Still, that moment barely dents what is otherwise a deeply compelling live record. What I keep coming back to is the looseness of it all. There is confidence in the way this extended ensemble plays together, giving the songs space to breathe, stretch, and occasionally veer into unexpected places. The brass and sax lines add warmth and grit without overwhelming the emotional core, while the rhythm section of Graham Hopkins on drums, Joe Doyle on bass, and the added textures from Rob Bochnik on guitar and Ruth O’Mahony-Brady on piano and keyboards weave in and out of the arrangements with a familiarity that feels both tight and instinctive. Together, they create a foundation that allows the music to expand naturally without ever losing its centre.
There is also a palpable joy in the performances. You can hear a full band listening and reacting in real time, building arrangements collectively rather than replicating fixed studio versions. Some songs open up into extended instrumental passages, others are driven forward by subtle rhythmic interplay, but all of them feel alive in the moment. That sense of shared momentum is what makes the album so compelling.
Still Searching, Still Evolving
This will absolutely be added to my regular rotation. The album feels less like a retrospective and more like an artist still searching, still experimenting, and still finding new shades within songs that many fans already know by heart. For someone whose connection to Hansard will probably always begin with The Frames, this record was a reminder that his solo work can still surprise me, challenge me, and pull me in completely.
