Damien Rice "O" S/D?

S: "Volcano," "Blower's Daughter," and "Delicate," for beautiful-angry lovesongs; and "Eskimo" for silliness.
D: "Aimee," which basically manifests all of the criticisms I've seen thrown at O.

I think the Damien Rice album is better than anything David Gray has recorded, and it cuts closer to the bone than any of the "indie MOR" stuff to which it's compared (Turin Brakes, Hayden, Travis, etc). The arrangements are superb - surprising, forceful, showing quite a lot of depth - and I really admire than certain lyrical/musical/conceptual themes weave all the way through the record. But people who hate romanticism or folky singer-songwriters are going to hate it straight-up: there's little that's ironic, danceable or avant garde here.

S: David Kitt
D: Damian Rice

Is that, like, an indie-vs-mainstream thing? (I ask as an ignorant Canadian.) Because although I own both The Big Romance (which is boring) and Small Moments (which is pretty good), O seems to be the much, much better record.

Nah, cos to these Irish ears they both sound pretty mainstream. I just think the Damian Rice record is wispy and wet and something of a Dido-esque coffee table album. He's got a nice voice but his lyrics are terrible adolescent poetry and the whole "pasionately overwrought" performance style is just pure ham....
Whereas Kitt experiments a bit more and his new record (Square 1) is better than the first two, with soul stylings to add to the usual beats and guitar mix...

But if you want the real thing as far as this sort of stuff goes, listen to the Frames. Damian Rice really really really wants to be Glen Hansard.

The Frames are absolute garbage as well.

As for the rest of the people on this thread I couldn't tell you the difference between most of them if I shut my eyes while it was on, and I'm fairly au fait with most of them.

He's still alive, apparently. Collaborated on 5 tracks with a French actress on her debut album.

http://www.damienrice.com/

I guess I'm the only one on ILM who sometimes listens to his albums & wonders where he is then?

Anyway:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2087531/Damien-Rice-spends-X-Factor-windfall-half-million-charity-bid-Bonos-old-guitar.html

Between Little Mix, Ed Sheeran and Gotye, it does seem like there's never been a better moment for him to return.

i loved O

Lisa Hannigan's second album's pretty great btw - just read that Rice "famously" sacked her unexpectedly just as they were about to go onstage one night :-/

New album is out already.

Thoughts? I went to one of his gigs in the early 2000s and most were couples or women. It'll be interesting to see where his career goes from here.

Most importantly, he's turned rather jaded and I think the music reflects that.