The new Damien Rice album may be slightly uneven. But at the same time, it is partially demonic in its ability to pierce my heart when I listen. For some wonderful reason Damien has chosen to spend quite some time in front of the piano, and many of the songs are more piano-based than guitar based. The album is more introspective, more sad in some places than "O", and more a solo-album than "O", where the band played a great part in the sound of the recording. On "9", mr Rice plays several of the songs completely solo, and this simplicity and rawness makes it all the more worthwhile in the current musical climate. An example is Elephant, where the album version seems even more stripped down than some of the live recordings I've come across. The listener is left with only a guitar and Damiens voice to lean on. Another lovely little detail is that the first song on the album starts with Lisa singing. Even though her presence is not very pronounced on the album as a whole. And last but not least, the lyrics are fresh, Damien finds some new metaphores that have not been written in neon just yet, and writes a world of wood and woodys - of accidental songs and accidental babies.
Somehow I connect Damien to Tiger Lou. Maybe because they're both male, young, solo artists. OR maybe because they're both talanted to the point of genious, phenomenal songwriters who keep things simple and still new. I mean, their music isn't much alike.
Well. just hear it, ok?
Flash Gordon out.
