Late Night Music Blogging - Damien Rice

Rice just dropped a new album and will be performing in the Bay Area at the Paramount in Oakland next month. I've only heard three tracks from the new album, but I like them all quite a bit. "Grey Room" to me is in the same vein as "Delicate" from O."The Animals Were Gone" is fantastic. The string section, which builds to a swirling crescendo near the end of the song, infuses the whole production with an almost dream-like quality. It feels like a slightly boozy waltz...wonderful track. The standout of the three is easily "9 Crimes", a devastating piano ballad featuring Lisa Hannigan. My take is that the song is about a the end of a relationship, and if so, the imagery produced is stunning:

"Leave me out with the waste
This is not what I do
It's the wrong kind of place
To be thinking of you
It's the wrong time
For somebody new
It's a small crime
And I've got no excuse

Is that alright with you?
Give my gun away when it's loaded
that alright with you?
If you don't shoot it how am I supposed to hold it
Is that alright with you?
Give my gun away when it's loaded
Is that alright with you?
with you.

Leave me out with the waste
This is not what I do
It's the wrong kind of place
To be cheating on you
It's the wrong time
but she's pulling me through
It's a small crime
And I've got no excuse

Is that alright with you?
Give my gun away when it's loaded
Is that alright with you?
If you don't shoot it how am I supposed to hold it
Is that alright with you?
Give my gun away when it's loaded
Is that alright
Is that alright with you?

Is that alright?
Is that alright?
Is that alright with you?
Is that alright?
Is that alright?
Is that alright with you?

No..."

Reading the lyrics is one thing, but put together with the piano and slight string arrangement and the haunted vocals of Rice and Hannigan, the song becomes transcendent. If ever there was a song for a cold winter night spent on reflection, this is it.