Markéta Irglová is a Czech-Icelandic singer-songwriter and actress born in 1988 in Valašské Meziříčí, Czech Republic. She came to international attention through the Irish film Once (2007), co-writing "Falling Slowly" with Glen Hansard - a song that earned them both the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2008. Together they form The Swell Season, and Irglová has also released four solo records.
The Swell Season released the album Forward on July 11, 2025 - their first joint album in sixteen years, recorded in a studio in Iceland.
The first single from the album Forward was the song "People We Used to Be", in which Irglová sings the lead vocals and Hansard adds harmonies.
The Swell Season started a European tour in May 2025 with stops in Amsterdam, Antwerp, Cologne and other cities, then continued in the summer across North America.
In November 2024, The Swell Season announced the album Forward and the 2025 tour; at the same time they released a new joint single "People We Used to Be".
Irglová released on vinyl a trilogy of pandemic singles Quintessence, Among the Living and Mother, which were created during covid as a conceptual project.
