Magnificently packaged in a CD-sized hardcover book filled with personal artwork, lyrics, and photos, Damien Rice's debut full-length, O, is nothing less than a work of genius, a perfect cross between Ryan Adams and David Gray and a true contender for one of the best albums of 2003. This Irish singer/songwriter works with impassioned folk songs that move from stripped-down to grandly orchestrated in a heartbeat. The production is reminiscent of Songs of Leonard Cohen -- simple guitars, vocals, and then those swelling strings, all of which sound like they were recorded right in the same room. Rice is master of what critic/ranter Richard Meltzer called "the unknown tongue" -- basically the musical equivalent of the "punctum" in photos, it's that thing that grabs a hold of you, the detail that makes it happen. For example, on "Delicate" the strings lift the spare folk song to the heavens at just the moment that makes the song soar -- Meltzer might call it the "folk tongue" or maybe even the "epic tongue." The magnificent, melancholy, optimistic, longing, almost magical "The Blower's Daughter" comes in immediately as the previous song, "Volcano," ends -- same thing with the song that follows -- which gives the album a broad, operatic quality. The gentle "Cannonball," the bright strumming and surreal feedback on "Amie," the distant piano and oceanic harmonies (not to mention drowning, backwards vocals) on the duet, Cold Water" -- the entire record makes the empty highway less lonely, the sunshine a little warmer, and life a little more poetic. Then there's the actual opera singer doing backup vocal duties on "Eskimo" -- a song of redemption that is Syd Barrett, is Skip Spence, is Grandaddy and is Mercury Rev and everything that implies. What a metaphor for Rice's entire hopelessly beautiful record -- one long angelic hymn for an insane world with the intimacy of a friend playing guitar in your living room and the grandeur of Sigur Rós.
Great show tonight...I was disappointed heading into the show, knowing that Lisa Hannigan who was prominently featured on both of his albums had recently stopped touring with Damien to record her own album, but that disappointment faded quickly.From the first few notes of the show opener '9 Crimes' through the entire set, the energy and intensity never waned....just a great show. The set was he...
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damien rice is coming to paris. twice. i've never seen him live, but want to badly. here's the deal...his first show is 19 march. but since this show was sold out by the time i wanted to get tickets, i got a ticket to the arcade fire show the same night. just so happens that the arcade fire added a second show shortly thereafter. sucks because i was planning on buying a scalped ticket for...
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So, do ever have one of those days, when you are just chilled out to the max? It doesn't matter what kind of mood I am in, if I listen to Damien Rice I get like that. It's just so relaxing...A lot of people don't like his new album, but I think it's good. I like the fact that it is different from "O". I think that he did a good job with the feelings he was trying to bring out in people. <3
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Nothing like some Damien Rice on a cold day...
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there is certain music i am absolutely incapable of listening to when i'm hungover. it's too busy. too much happening. my brain, still trying to shake off the alcohol and pot and cigarettes, rebels. it starts rattling around and banging into the apparently sharp objects in my skull (like my skull itself, i suppose) and doing other things which mean that i have a killer headache.. see, like...
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and so it is...well, i'm a damien rice sort of mood right now. the kind of mood when i am tired but can't sleep because i slept in every day during the weekend. technically though, i didn't sleep in, because i set my alarm to wake me up at 10:30 so i could go to work and sell popcorn to all the people who wanted to see that penguin movie. and james bond, of course. but anyways, i need to pick 9...
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I hated this movie so much I can't believe I actually watched it all the way through. Jude Law is a turd. But, this is a good song and I like how they used it. I also like that Natalie Portman gets run over by a car. Just to clarify something, it is REALLY hard to find the exact clips I want to use on YouTube. There are some really great music/movie moments that just aren't out there like Leona...
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"He came back the other day, yeah you knowSome things in life may changeAnd some thingsThey stay the sameLike time, there's always timeOn my mindSo pass me by, I'll be fineJust give me time"--??"Older Chests"?? by Damien Rice
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So...I've only been on MOG for about 3 hours now. And these 3 hours have been spent being on here. I'm kinda afraid for how this will affect my study habits. I do have this feeling though that it will be much like how facebook was when I first joined. I'll be addicted for a week or so...then still check it and use it, but I won't be on it for hours at a time.Today has consisted of me in my room...
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Great show tonight...I was disappointed heading into the show, knowing that Lisa Hannigan who was prominently featured on both of his albums had recently stopped touring with Damien to record her own album, but that disappointment faded quickly.From the first few notes of the show opener '9 Crimes' through the entire set, the energy and intensity never waned....just a great show. The set was he...
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I've got Lost on my mind. Delicate was the last song Hurley listen to, in Season 1 episode called In Translation, before the batteries in his discman died out. I say bring back the music. Why doesn't Hurley have a Dharma prototype walkman in the 70's?Delicate is one of my favorites off O. I woke up with the lyrics in my head this morning. It always brings me back to this episode. When Hurley's ...
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So true...I set my beloved MOG free today....and it loyally returned. And as I have just poished off the last Newcastle, I will leave you with this lullaby...
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Still a little bit of your taste in my mouthStill a little bit of you lacedwith my doubtStill a little hard to saywhat's going onStill a little bit of your ghost your witnessStill a little bit of your faceI haven't kissedYou step a little closer each dayStill I can't say what's going onStones taught me to flyLove taught me to lieLife taught me to dieSo it's not hard to fallWhen you float like a...
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So this is how it looks outside the front of my house right now. We are being pummeled with snow, here in CO. Four foot drifts all around ... but it's not so bad ... I've outfitted my new eskimo cave with a LAN and high speed internet so I can continue mogging right through!
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i've been clearing out my cell phone and shifting my life into minimalization mode (mexico'll do that to you) and i discovered some videos i shot from when i saw damien rice open for fiona apple at the shoreline ampitheater last year. then i started thinking about when i lived in scotland. one of my flatmates (a depressed cutter being horribly abused by a fuckhole "friend" of her family) intr...
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there is certain music i am absolutely incapable of listening to when i'm hungover. it's too busy. too much happening. my brain, still trying to shake off the alcohol and pot and cigarettes, rebels. it starts rattling around and banging into the apparently sharp objects in my skull (like my skull itself, i suppose) and doing other things which mean that i have a killer headache.. see, like...
More >
No, I'm fine, don't worry about me. ;) There was a mild bump in the road for me on Thursday (all solved now, just a lousy day) and when I was in the train back home I couldn't help but notice that when my heart is feeling a tad heavy, I usually resort to the same music.Last Thursday I, like before, opted for Damien Rice's "O" and "You Gotta Go There To Come Back", by the Stereophonics. Especial...
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I hated this movie so much I can't believe I actually watched it all the way through. Jude Law is a turd. But, this is a good song and I like how they used it. I also like that Natalie Portman gets run over by a car. Just to clarify something, it is REALLY hard to find the exact clips I want to use on YouTube. There are some really great music/movie moments that just aren't out there like Leona...
More >
damien rice is coming to paris. twice. i've never seen him live, but want to badly. here's the deal...his first show is 19 march. but since this show was sold out by the time i wanted to get tickets, i got a ticket to the arcade fire show the same night. just so happens that the arcade fire added a second show shortly thereafter. sucks because i was planning on buying a scalped ticket for...
More >
I got this from an old high school classmate, with whom I'm friends on Facebook. Basically, you set your music player on shuffle mode—even if it didn't contain your complete music collection—switch to the next track, and use the songs that play as answers to each of the following questions. You must include the title and artist of each song. No cheating!- - -What do you like in a guy/girl?"Swe
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and so it is...well, i'm a damien rice sort of mood right now. the kind of mood when i am tired but can't sleep because i slept in every day during the weekend. technically though, i didn't sleep in, because i set my alarm to wake me up at 10:30 so i could go to work and sell popcorn to all the people who wanted to see that penguin movie. and james bond, of course. but anyways, i need to pick 9...
More >
"He came back the other day, yeah you knowSome things in life may changeAnd some thingsThey stay the sameLike time, there's always timeOn my mindSo pass me by, I'll be fineJust give me time"--??"Older Chests"?? by Damien Rice
More >
Nothing like some Damien Rice on a cold day...
More >
So...I've only been on MOG for about 3 hours now. And these 3 hours have been spent being on here. I'm kinda afraid for how this will affect my study habits. I do have this feeling though that it will be much like how facebook was when I first joined. I'll be addicted for a week or so...then still check it and use it, but I won't be on it for hours at a time.Today has consisted of me in my room...
More >
| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
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| 1 Delicate |
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| 2 Volcano |
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| 3 The Blower's Daughter |
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| 4 Cannonball |
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| 5 Older Chests |
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| 6 Amie |
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| 7 Cheers Darlin' |
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| 8 Cold Water |
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| 9 I Remember |
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| 10 Eskimo |
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Click to purchase…
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 "O")
