Peter BurrowsHaving reviewed Don’t Settle Vol. 1 on its own, I find myself wishing I had waited until Don’t Settle Vol. 2: Transmissions West arrived. Recorded during the same sessions at Berlin’s storied Funkhaus, the two releases are so clearly part of the same artistic statement, separating them feels somewhat artificial. While each album stands comfortably on its own, together they reveal the full scope of what Glen Hansard and his band achieved over those nights.
A warm and intimate acoustic setting
The sonic landscape remains familiar. Funkhaus provides the same warm, intimate acoustic setting. The performances carry the same sense of musicians listening closely to one another and allowing the songs to unfold naturally. Yet where Volume 1 often drew attention through the immediacy of its biggest moments, Volume 2 feels content to deepen the experience rather than repeat it.
Shining a light on different corners of Hansard’s catalogue
That is not to say the live electricity of performances such as “Revelate”, “What Happens When the Heart Just Stops” or “High Hope” is replicated here. Those songs possess a natural dramatic weight and urgency that can dominate any collection they appear on. Instead, Transmissions West shines a light on different corners of Hansard’s catalogue, enriching the overall picture and reminding listeners just how deep his songwriting well runs.
What emerges across these two volumes is something approaching a live version of Hansard’s own great songbook. The better-known songs provide the anchor points, but it is the surrounding material that gives the project its real substance. Volume 2 allows songs that might otherwise sit in the shadow of audience favourites to claim their own space. It thus reveals the consistency of a songwriter who has spent decades crafting material that rewards repeated listening. The result is a collection that feels less like a live album and more like a retrospective performed in real time.
When songs live to be re-invented
There is also a sense throughout that Hansard is entirely comfortable with where these songs now live. They are not treated as museum pieces, nor are they radically reinvented. Instead, they are given room to breathe, supported by a band that understands precisely when to step forward and when to hold back. The performances feel lived in and earned, shaped by years of touring and reinterpretation.
Taken together, Don’t Settle Vol. 1 and Transmissions West are greater than the sum of their parts. The first volume may have provided many of the obvious highlights, but the second completes the story. It broadens the emotional range, strengthens the narrative arc and ultimately makes the entire project feel richer and more satisfying. In hindsight, it is difficult to think of them as separate releases at all. They are companion pieces in the truest sense, capturing an artist and a band taking stock of an extraordinary body of work and finding new life within it.
The full picture comes into focus
With the release of Transmissions West, the full picture finally comes into focus. What initially appeared to be two live albums, now feels more like a carefully assembled celebration of one of Ireland’s finest contemporary songwriters. All of it presented in a venue whose warmth and clarity allow every song, whether familiar or overlooked, to find its place.
