The Swell Season to release their first album in 16 years

Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová have been through a lot together. First, they were musical partners, releasing their first album as the duo The Swell Season in 2006.

Then, they were co-stars in Once, the Irish film about two musicians who fall in love. During the filming of that movie, Hansard and Irglová fell in love. Then, they were Oscar winners, sharing their award for best original song for "Falling Slowly."

This all happened in the span of about two years. It was intense. Their romantic relationship ended not long after, and The Swell Season released their album Strict Joy in 2009.

It may have seemed like that was it, but the bond Hansard and Irglová have as songwriters never went away. Now, they're back with a new album, out June 13. It's the first in 16 years from The Swell Season, and it's called Forward.

In this session, they talk about moving forward as artists; about their experiences together; and they'll perform songs both new and old.

This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Kimberly Junod. The web story was created by Miguel Perez. Our engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.