Damien Rice was born in born in Celbridge, County Kildare. He was originally in the band Juniper, a rock band which released the singles, “The World Is Dead” and “Weatherman”. On the eve of recording their first full album for Polygram in 1999, Rice became disenchanted with the commercial label and quit. His Juniper bandmates became Bell X1. He moved to rural Italy where he played acoustic guitar, wrote songs, and busked around Europe until he was able to form a band and get coffeeshop gigs in the Dublin area. Exploiting a lucky connection to David Arnold, his second cousin, Rice was able to record O, for which he won the Shortlist Music Prize in 2003. The other members of the band are Lisa Hannigan who sings and occasionally plays guitar and bass; cellist Vyvienne Long; percussionist Tom Osander (aka: Tomo) a member of the 90’s jam band God Street Wine; and bassist Shane Fitzsimons.

In recent years, with the increase of digital cameras and mobile phone cameras, Rice has stopped mid-song to ask the audience members to simply watch the concert rather than record it. At a gig in Toronto in 2006, he changed the lyrics of his song, “I Remember” from “I remember it well, taxied out of a storm, to watch you perform, and my ships were sailing” to “I remember it well, when we used to watch concerts, not through a camera, please turn, them off please”.

Damien Rice took many by storm with his debut album, O, where he made himself known with his honest, brutal lyrics and his heartfelt delivery. Being very vocally talented, Rice threw all of the norms out the window, going from soft, choked whimpers to shouting at the top of his lungs, which consequently makes it sound sometimes as though he can’t carry a solid note. His counter part in several songs was Lisa Hannigan, with a smooth and haunting voice, and the same songs sound empty when preformed without her presence.

The sophomore album, 9, is absolutely stunning and a worthy follow up to, O. The opening to the CD starts with “9 Crimes”, which is the solo piano song to be released on an album- and has Hannigan and Rice overlapping each other, much like in O’s “Volcano”, but with a different style and voice. The third track, my personally favorite, is “Elephant” and it reminds me a lot of “Blower’s Daughter” in the way it starts with Rice speaking half singing with but maybe a soft strum or two behind him- but about a minute and thirty seconds into the song, Rice shows me one of the reasons I adore his style. He is truly singing with all his heart, and it shows. He sings with feeling, he loves his music, he is telling us a story, and painting us a picture- the cello, violin, guitar, piano and vocals are an amazing addition. His lyrics remain raw in “9” and are full of the same heartbreak and loss- explained simply through his words. “Accidental Babies” is the second to last track, and yet another piano driven addition to this CD, and is somewhat similar to “Cheers Darling”, and by that I mean I feel the same sort of torn, ripped apart feeling when I listen to this song as when I listened to “Cheers, Darling”.

Rice experiments a little, but if you are picking up this album for a dramatic, experimental change in his performance- if you’re picking it up to be as shocked as you were when he first emerged, then you’ll be disappointed. His raw, heart wrenching, pure feeling cannot be dulled, or hidden and tucked away by the mainstream wants, needs, and desires. If you’re looking for Damien, as he is, you’ll be absolutely tickled with his “9”. It’s certainly been long overdue.

9 Crimes

Elephant

Accidental Babies

• 9 Crimes
• The Animals Are Gone
• Elephant
• Rootless Tree
• Dogs
• Coconut Skins
• Me, My Yoke & I
• Grey Room
• Accidental Babies
• Sleep Don’t Weep