Damien Rice breaks hearts, surprises with laughter at Cathedral Sanctuary

Damien Rice breaks hearts, surprises with laughter at Cathedral Sanctuary
Mark E. Ortega
GrimyGoods.com
October 15, 2014


There’s a reason why tickets were sold out within minutes of being offered for Damien Rice‘s intimate Oct. 9 show at the beautiful Cathedral Sanctuary at the Immanuel Presbyterian Church. Since emerging on the scene in 2001, people have turned to Rice’s music when needing to deal with a wide array of sad emotions. Those lucky few hundred that were able to witness Tuesday night’s performance got their fair share of eye-wiping in. They also experienced plenty of something maybe they weren’t anticipating: laughter.

While Rice ripped through a 17-song set of some of his latest and many of his greatest, he also mixed in an unexpected amount of comedic banter that kept things light. This, while just seconds before touching the depths of people’s souls with his often tragically-tuned songwriting.

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Album Preview: Damien Rice's "My Favourite Faded Fantasy" gets the Rick Rubin treatment

Album Preview: Damien Rice's "My Favourite Faded Fantasy" gets the Rick Rubin treatment
Mark E. Ortega
GrimyGoods.com
September 25, 2014

Something as powerful and emotionally taxing as Damien Rice’s first new material in eight years shouldn’t be something that you can access via Spotify. It just feels wrong.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Spotify. It is one of the only unnecessary bills I pay monthly. But Rice’s single “I Don’t Want to Change You” is something I should have to drive to a record store to procure before heading home and feeling sad and melancholy upon listening.

The upcoming album, titled My Favourite Faded Fantasy, is Rice’s first album since 9 back in 2006. In the time since, Rice disbanded his professional and personal relationship with Lisa Hannigan, the cellist and vocalist who brought additional depth to Rice’s songwriting with her vocal prowess. Whereas Rice’s vocals were sometimes harsh and sharp-edged, Hannigan’s soft vocals helped bring a balance.

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