9 - Damien Rice

Track List

1. 9 Crimes
2. The Animals Were Gone
3. Elephant
4. Rootless Tree
5. Dogs
6. Coconut Skins
7. Me, My Yoke and I
8. Grey Room
9. Accidental Babies
10. Sleep Don't Weep

Running Time: 67 minutes
Released: 2006

Sheesh, this is the best part of a decade old now, and there has been nothing of note since. Wikipedia suggests even this second effort was only at the record company's insistence. Looking down the track list stirs some memories. 9 crimes evokes strong memories and in times past I found solace in the fierceness in Rootless Tree and Me, My Yoke and I. I wonder where those memories will stand once I listen anew?

Mind you I remember some dross too, and the 21 minutes assigned to the last track suggests a whole heap of silence before a disappointing secret track (I don not remember if there is one). I hate that practice, by the by. Aside from being outdated in the digital age, it was never a reward for the listener, it was a penalty of having to put up with playing a silent track.

Why it did not appear before 9 Dead Alive in this list I do not know. WMP and its crazy ways. Amusingly Damien Rice apparently gigged with Rodrigo y Gabriela, too.

The gentle keys that start 9 Crimes immediately put me in the right mood for this. On this track, I am sure, my memory will be lived up to - although I find Rice's voice a bit off for some reason when it makes its entrance before it smooths out. There is a pleading quality here that reminds me of past times and low feelings if not specifically the relationship trouble it seems to hint at. The song is over before it has begun and I almost want to restart the listen.

I always hated the line "I love your depression and I love your double chin". It feels lazy, it feels trite. It feels like filler. Yeah - I was never a fan of The Animals Were Gone. Musically it does not inspire, lyrically it feels like a whine. A kind of pernicious whine at that... eating away at friendships by claiming to be hard done by. It is probably not a fair criticism but its the one that comes to mind. It is the kind of song that makes the idea of Rice being pressed into making this record ring true. And yet... and yet.

Elephant reminds me of Amie, from O. Apparently it was originally The Blower's Daughter part II, but it feels like it has more in common with Amie - and that puts it on the side of songs I like (not that I dislike The Blower's Daughter), even though again the lyrics feel forced in places. Admittedly I have not listened to O for a fair old while and so the comparison may be made on the basis of false memory.

Ah, gratuitous swearing, where would we be without you? Yeah I am not looking back with any pride on taking pleasure in the obscenities screamed out during Rootless Tree. It is hard to deny there is power in the delivery though and the overall effect is still cathartic. The more aggressive vocal works with Rice's voice to make a pretty compelling sound, but there is no repeat of the solace that I used to find in the tawdry "f*** you" refrains. It sits particularly badly with just having heard that my niece is in hospital after an accident and that may scupper their family holiday plans. To which end I need to pause now.

Phew. Picture through, she's OK and smiling, though going into exploratory surgery as I type. Fingers crossed for a full recovery. Nowhere I can get to to offer support, alas, other than to be on the other end of a phone.

The high points stand out pretty far on this one. Rice is more compelling when imparting anger. A slightly tinny sound ruins Me, My Yoke and I but it is the tune I remember, and so the three pillars that supported this album when it came out all seem to be in place still. In between is a bit of a mix. I missed Dogs (which I recall liking in the past) and Coconut Skins (which I never cared for) amidst thoughts and worry but I heard enough to not go back through them again specially.

I cannot get into Grey Room, although it has a couple of nice moments and then it gives way to Accidental Babies which, despite being a piano tune of the sort I tend to like, I find dull as anything. The playing seems flat, the vocal uninspired and the general sparse, slow and gentle tone is such a let down after the white hot burn of earlier tracks. The harmony on Sleep Don't Weep is better at making the quieter track more interesting but not much more so. The song eventually peters out before the 6 minute mark and so to the 15 minutes of guff added on the end; ambient sound gives way to a piercing warbling note which is really quite unpleasant. The effect is eerie but uninteresting, unsettling and uncomfortable. It is anything but clever and actually worse than several minutes of silence leading in to a secret track would have been. The tone eventually changes but does not improve and does literally take up until the 21 minute mark. What a load of complete tripe; pretentiousness and audience hostility summed up in a couple of wavering notes.

It is severely tempting to trim my library of several of these tunes even before I subjected myself to that outro but I shall stay my hand for now as I am not keen on partials for wholly irrational reasons. Made more irrational by the fact I have been ripping content to cover up some partials, whilst creating more (though admittedly only for singles which only contained several versions of the main track). Yeah - that provides the answer to my dilemma below, which means until I get through this project any random plays are going to have a higher level of frustration and skipping than before.

I just realised I never mentioned Lisa Hannigan, though she appears in the labels - she collaborates here as she did on O. I do like her voice a lot. Oh well. Bigger things to worry about tonight.