Why are Irish solo artists so boring?
Artiste: Damien Rice
Nationality: Irish
Album: 9
Year: 2006
Label: Heffa
Genre: Folk/Acoustic
Tracks
9 crimes
The animals were gone
Elephant
Rootless tree
Dogs
Coconut skins
Me, my yoke and I
Grey rooms
Accidental babies
Sleep don't weep
Chronological position: Second album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting Factoid: This album was only released under pressure from Rice's label, as he had intended only ever recording one solo album. It features Lisa Hannigan on backing/shared vocals; Lisa has since left Rice and struck out on her own, doing very well for herself.
Impression: Interesting....
Best track(s): Elephant, Rootless tree, Accidental babies
Worst track(s): Me, my yoke and I, Dogs
Intention: Since he only has the one other album, I expect I'll listen to that, but to be honest I'm in no huge hurry.
Comments:I've heard a lot about Damien Rice, particularly through reviewing Lisa Hannigan's “See sew”, but have not up to now listened to any of his music, and as an Irishman I think maybe it's about time I did that. Apparently his music has been used in a stack of TV shows, including two of my own favourites, “True Blood” and “Criminal minds”, as well as a bunch of films, and yet I've heard none of his songs --- or at least none I recognised as being his. Glen Hansard is another of our native sons I must make the time to hear. As I listen to this album I hear elements of a more restrained David Gray, as well as the late Harry Chapin with echoes of John Martyn and Joseph Arthur. Lovely use of mournful cello, viola and violin gives the album a very melancholic and yet strangely uplifting feel.
The sheer power of Rice's voice, downbeat and understated for most of the album, really comes through on
Elephant, when his powerful lungs bellow out the lyric like a wounded animal, the gently-strummed acoustic guitar which carries most of the song getting louder and more insistent until the rest of the band crash in and up the ante in the song, which then drops back off to simple acoustic again for the end. Powerful. Again you hear it on
Coconut skins, but most of the time it's reserved, kept in check, only to be unleashed when required. Percussion is sparse across the album, but used very effectively when it's needed, adding an extra dimension to songs like
Rootless tree and
Grey room, but it's Rice's tortured voice that carries the album and demands your attention, and it's by this that the album stands or falls, despite the excellent band he has assembled. In general, I think it works, but I believe this is an album you need to be in the mood for, and I wouldn't tend to play it too often. I could also have done without the almost fifteen minutes of low whining at the end, which I believe is Damien playing wine glasses for some reason, but it all seems to be the one tone all the way through, so sounds to me more like that sound the telly used to make when the stations were closing down for the night. Yes, TV wasn't always 24 hour! It's supposed to be some sort of Tibetan chant apparently, and that's all well and good, but almost a quarter of an hour of it is a little too much to take when it doesn't even vary from note to note, and unfortunately it ends the album badly for me. Still, it's different...