Damien Rice - O

Oh, good Lord, it's another singer-songwriter! Quick, shut the door. Maybe he'll think we're not at home. Honestly, the last thing the world needs is another singer-songwriter with a tear in his imported beer, whining about lost love and how the world isn't fair. These sentiments have been mass produced, copyrighted and crammed down our throats. Frankly, it's just hard to sell emotional attachment on a corporate level these days. But, dammit, Damien Rice is trying. Well, maybe he just wants us to feel his pain. His US debut, O, is packed full of all the same stuff you've come to expect from a young, scruffy acoustic guitar jockey. Yet, the album is bit more sincere than the norm; think a more believable David Gray or an unpolished, less quirky Dave Matthews. Oh, and he's Irish too. Rice' voice has a way of creating an instant intimacy. Not that he's singing to you persay, but the room you're in will feel a bit more cozy the first time through the opener, "Delicate". It almost feels as if you're sitting in the same room as Rice, which is partly due to the fact that the album was recorded in Rice' home on an 8-track. The only setback for the album is it's inability to pick up any pace whatsoever. The one track that makes it out of a slow jog is the ending of "I Remember". The next closest is "Volcano," which is by no surprise the single and features some lovely vocals from Lisa Hannigan. Every other track slowly crawls or swims around within itself, eventually blooming into an orchestral finale or simply just puttering out after a few sporadic bursts. Then, the final track, "Eskimo", in which Rice repeatedly voices, "I look to my Eskimo friend," comes off like the "everything is great in the world" scene at the end of a Disney movie - and all that is before the opera singer starts singing backup. Comparatively, the track comes off a bit too humorous to end off what the album has established throughout the first nine songs. On the surface, Damien Rice might seem like he's goining to lend a few tracks to the Gap for their Fall line, or maybe he'll get his own special on VH1. But, there's a quality to the music Damien Rice creates that can never be consumed by pop culture. And maybe that small bit of unrefined soul will save him from becoming a cliché. [www.damienrice.com]