Make a whole new religion

Damien Rice is a singer/songwriter from County Kildare, Ireland. He used to be in a band called Juniper.

In March 1999 Damien moved to Tuscany, then travelled around Europe, busking the streets. He arrived back to Dublin a year later, with a clear head and full of ideas. He approached his music with a new found freshness and decided to put some songs down on record. Borrowing money from those that would lend it, he recorded his demo and sent it off to renowned producer and film composer, David Arnold (Bjork, James Bond). Arnold liked what he heard and provided enough money for Damien to buy his own mobile studio.

In July 2002 this album, "O", was released in the UK and it received widespread critical acclaim.


Rice's secret weapon is Lisa Hannigan, who shares vocal duties on the album and performs with him on tour.





As for why he titled the album O, Rice explained during an interview with the Irish webzine Cluas last year, "The reason why it fits for me is 'cause like with relationships, they go round and round in circles, and you never learn from mistakes, and it's always the same thing over and over. So many of the songs are like that as well, about the same mistakes, that whole thing we do in Life — just going around in circles. And CDs go round and round as well. I mean, fuck it! 'O' just seemed to capture what the album was."

The cello, provided by Vyvienne Long, is just one example of Damien’s attempts to break away from a conventional instrumental formula of guitar, bass and drums. He also features the famous French pianist Jean Meunier, the orchestral string arrangement previously mentioned, and a powerful opera singer named Doreen Curran who sings the last verse of Eskimo in Intuit. He makes use of several inventive special effects such as the children in the background of 'Older Chests' (he simply stood outside St. Brigid’s primary school on the main street of Celbridge with a microphone in his hand and recorded them as they left school laughing and playing) or the ultimate special guest, the voice of God, which guests on 'Cold Water' (the Gregorian chant-style God was influenced by the monks of an abbey in the south of France where Damien spent some time).


(above: left-right) Vyvienne, Lisa and Damien

Lisa and Damien's version of Pink's "Get the Party Started" is released in Ireland on an album called "Even Better Than The Real Thing"


Damien Rice

Labels: Music