Love = drama + melodrama on Glen Hansard's moonstruck solo debut, as it is in his songs for the breakout film-turned-musical Once, and for his bands The Frames and the Swell Season. "I want to do what's right," he sings on "Maybe Not Tonight," adorably ready not to, conjuring the Seventies country-pop vibe of Glen Campbell around stock images: pretty eyes, an August night, "the long grass where we lay." More striking are the unsettling string arrangements by a coterie of indie-rock/classical fusionists (Thomas Bartlett, Nico Muhly, Rob Moose) and a quietly riveting duet with Once co-star Markéta Irglová ("What Are We Gonna Do"). As for many of us, a woman makes all the difference.

Listen to 'Rhythm and Repose':

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• Videos: Glen Hansard Plays New Solo Tunes

“Home”

Through a mere four lines long, Glasser's Cameron Mesirow packs a big idea into the lyrics of her debut single. "'Home' is about being scared of trusting things that I need to depend on," she said. "I move around a lot, and so home is merely a concept of comfort." She followed the album with a companion film, A Flaw in the Flat Screen, inw hich she did interpretive dances to parts of her songs.