2008 Woodie Awards
Rice's O is filled with honest emotion, life and love ballads
Kate LeBel
Issue date: 2/18/05 Section: Arts & Entertainment
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Many of you may have recently seen the passionate drama "Closer" over Christmas break, as I did. During the beginning and ending scenes, a man's slow, tender voice proclaims "I can't take my eyes off of you," and later, "I can't take my mind off of you." My sister and I were immediately swooning and making guesses as to who the voice could possibly be. It turned out to be no one we had ever heard of. After searching online, I was at the store within a matter of days to purchase the album. This was over a month ago, and the CD has not left my stereo yet.
The man behind the voice is Damien Rice, a thirty-something year old Irish singer/songwriter whose debut solo album was released in his homeland in early 2002, and has now gone platinum. This CD is entitled "O" and boasts the song "The Blower's Daughter" that appears in the aforementioned movie. About a year and a half later, in 2003, the CD made its first appearance in the United States. The CD has currently sold approximately one million copies worldwide. Before going solo, Rice was part of a band from Ireland called Juniper. They never released an album, but had several singles on Irish radio, such as "Weatherman" and "The World Is Dead."
Now, Damien has a solo album where he creates a folk rock sound, and is sometimes accompanied by female artist Lisa Hannigan. His band consists of a drummer, percussionist, cellist and bassist. Rice does vocals and also plays guitar, bass, clarinet, piano, and drums.
The sound of his album is truly spectacular, and unlike anything I am used to listening to. Simply having the CD on in my room has elicited many enthusiastic comments from friends and people passing by.
The CD has ten tracks, along with a hidden bonus track done entirely by Lisa Hannigan, who has quite an unforgettable voice. There is not a track on the disc that can be fast-forwarded through: no small feat for Rice, who wrote every song himself. Each song brings something new and different to the table. My personal favorite track is "Cannonball," an emotionally-charged ballad about love and life with lyrics such as "There's still a little bit of your taste in my mouth/There's still a little bit of you laced with my doubt/It's still a little hard to say what's going on."
The man behind the voice is Damien Rice, a thirty-something year old Irish singer/songwriter whose debut solo album was released in his homeland in early 2002, and has now gone platinum. This CD is entitled "O" and boasts the song "The Blower's Daughter" that appears in the aforementioned movie. About a year and a half later, in 2003, the CD made its first appearance in the United States. The CD has currently sold approximately one million copies worldwide. Before going solo, Rice was part of a band from Ireland called Juniper. They never released an album, but had several singles on Irish radio, such as "Weatherman" and "The World Is Dead."
Now, Damien has a solo album where he creates a folk rock sound, and is sometimes accompanied by female artist Lisa Hannigan. His band consists of a drummer, percussionist, cellist and bassist. Rice does vocals and also plays guitar, bass, clarinet, piano, and drums.
The sound of his album is truly spectacular, and unlike anything I am used to listening to. Simply having the CD on in my room has elicited many enthusiastic comments from friends and people passing by.
The CD has ten tracks, along with a hidden bonus track done entirely by Lisa Hannigan, who has quite an unforgettable voice. There is not a track on the disc that can be fast-forwarded through: no small feat for Rice, who wrote every song himself. Each song brings something new and different to the table. My personal favorite track is "Cannonball," an emotionally-charged ballad about love and life with lyrics such as "There's still a little bit of your taste in my mouth/There's still a little bit of you laced with my doubt/It's still a little hard to say what's going on."