Glen Hansard is definitely a people person. That’s easily seen in the intense response fans had to his breakthrough band, the Frames, and his even more popular current project, the chamber-pop duo the Swell Season. The singing guitarist’s musical and personal chemistry with pianist Markéta Irglová was well documented in the indie film Once, which last year managed to snag the best-song Oscar, for “Falling Slowly”.

Since then, the two collaborators have put out Strict Joy, an upbeat sequel to their eponymous 2006 debut, and continued to tour the world.

Hansard’s rapport with his fellow music fans was certainly evident when Swell Season played Portland and Seattle in the winter of ’07. If you were lucky enough to catch those shows, you’ll remember how the packed crowds seemed to know all the duo’s lyrics. His ability to connect was most obvious at Portland’s Crystal Ballroom; when the power suddenly went out during the first number, the dramatically slow-building “Leave”, Hansard moved up to the lip of the stage and belted out the tune unamplified, bearing down hard on the overly ventilated Takamine dreadnought that has become his trademark—at least since everyone saw him wielding it in Once, as a Dublin street busker.

“I’ve got it with me right now,” says the much-travelled Irishman, reached in downtown Toronto while waiting for lunch at a sidewalk café. “I’ve decided to keep playin’ it until there’s nothin’ left. Of course, it might outlive me, you know?”

Not everything is so permanently fixed in Hansard’s life. His romantic connection with the Czech-born Irglová, as documented (or perhaps predicted) in the movie—made when she was still a precocious teenager—has since fizzled. But the duo decided to keep the partnership going.

“Like anything solid,” he explains, “it’s got years of roots. Me and Mar were friends for a lot longer than we were lovers. First we were acquaintances, then we were friends and collaborators, and then we graduated to something deeper, more emotional, and more beautiful. And now I feel we’ve graduated again, into something even more beautiful, which is a deep, deep affection. Honestly, I feel that we’re in a much better place now.”

Judging from the new album, along with reports from the road, the Season has swelled, taking a rockier road with a fuller, less atmospheric, and more driving sound. Part of this is because the backing band has expanded from some members of the Frames to the entire group, at various times, now resigned to playing material not their own.

“I think they’re enjoyin’ it,” the curly haired leader says with a laugh. “They’re maybe a little less invested in it, which may be good for them. Rock bands can get a little too democratic, which leads to a lot of conflict at times. The relationship is a lot clearer now: me and Mar are the boss!”

With all that firepower, though, Hansard has been able to pull back slightly in the vocal department, and the new tunes are less dominated by the kind of soaring vocalese that enthralled those folks in Portland.

“I wouldn’t say that all the shout has gone outta me, exactly, but sometimes I feel the songs come off more intense when you pull back a bit. The last thing you want is for your passion to be the thing you’re recognized for, only. There’s a time and a place for shouting, but screamin’ your guts out into the microphone can be too much in the studio. That said, there will be a bit of shouting and a bit of crooning in Vancouver, and maybe even a Frames song or two.”

All this talk about songs and singing can make one forget what a fine craftsman Hansard is with his hands. Our talk eventually drifts back to the search for six-stringed beauties. Not long ago, in fact, Hansard stumbled onto a 19th-century parlour guitar in New York City. Soon after, he secured one of similar vintage in Prague, where he has maintained an apartment with Irglová.

“I was lucky enough to hear and hang out with Leonard Cohen that same night, in the Czech Republic, and I came so close to giving him that guitar. Then I thought, ‘Is he really going to care about another guitar?’ I suspect he’s beyond all that now.

“Lately,” he adds wistfully, “I find myself drawn to all these old instruments, mainly because of the music that has been played on them. It’s like my guitar, you know? Regardless of those scars, or maybe because of them, the wood has all of those nights, all of those songs, and all the people who’ve ever played it—not just me—as well as all the places that thing has been. It’s all in there.”

The Swell Season plays Vancouver’s Centre for the Performing Arts on Wednesday (November 25).