Damien Rice will release a new album, My Favourite Faded Fantasy, on November 3 via Atlantic Records. His first collection of new material in eight years, the record was co-produced by Rick Rubin, with sessions taking place between Iceland and Los Angeles. Led by new single ‘I Don’t Want To Change You’, My Favourite Faded Fantasy follows the seminal ‘O’ – which sold two million copies worldwide - as well as the million selling, Brit-nominated follow-up, ‘9’. Sometimes you have to step away from what you love, in order to learn how to love it again. If ‘O’ was the result of patience – recorded at home, initially self-released, and taking Rice from busking around Europe to a household name – ‘9’ was arguably made with frustration; the sum of three years’ touring, and the sudden addition of external expectations. Rice vowed never to let the same thing happen again and, not for the first time in his career - a break before ‘O’ saw him retreat to Tuscany, where he became a farmer - he simply stepped away. Packing everything he needed into just two suitcases and spending the eight intervening years on the move, he had achieved the success most artists dream of but emerged empty, lost and creatively dissatisfied. Whilst fans would repeatedly ask “when?”, for Damien the real question shifted to “why make an album at all?” My Favourite Faded Fantasy suggests that the answer may have been staring right back at him all along. It’s a record which might seem to address a lover, following a career admittedly spent getting the last word in, or attempting to take it all back again. Here, however, is a selection of songs which – says Damien – are “sung straight into the metaphorical mirror”. Those reflections appear to shift and slide from the self-aware (‘It Takes A Lot To Know A Man’) to the self-critical (see the barbed humour of ‘The Greatest Bastard’) and, perhaps, to that place of moving forward (particularly the rousing uplift of ‘Trusty & True’). It’s a lyrical push-and-pull effectively based on the idea of being yourself, which can be felt in the ambitious scope of Rice’s new material (the longest track clocks in at just under ten minutes) but is also articulated into something more raw, heavy and focused (just eight final songs were selected for the record). My Favourite Faded Fantasy itself emerged amidst the frustration of trying to complete an altogether different song. “I became unhappy with what I’d recorded that day, and felt the void. So I picked up the guitar and just kept playing something else, to make myself feel better….and I went into a whirl. I became obsessed.” As an album ‘My Favourite Faded Fantasy’ is a love affair, but – this time – it’s arguably with that act of making music itself. Keen never to stay in one place for too long, Damien Rice’s new material nonetheless found its spiritual home in Iceland, where he and co-producer Rick Rubin completed the record after an initial period in Los Angeles. Rice was drawn to Rubin by what he didn’t know about him, as opposed to what he did (he meditated, had a big beard, and some people called him a guru). Rubin, whose work spans Run DMC to Johnny Cash and Adele, first saw Rice play live around the release of ‘O’, and recalls that “he was my favourite new artist at the time. A lot of our work together was to help him see what was so clear to everyone else in the room.” Encouraged by Rick to open up and have faith in the songs he kept starting, criticizing and scrapping, Damien relocated from Los Angeles to the fittingly volcanic energy of Iceland, where he assembled a cast of friends and local musicians to complete My Favourite Faded Fantasy against the stunning backdrop of Reykjavik (which can be seen in the album’s stunning accompanying videos). Sometimes, then, you have to step away from what you love, in order to learn how to love it again. “I sat for a minute,” says Damien, “and imagined myself with one more hour on the planet. And I noticed that I didn’t care about whether I had sold more records, or less records. What was most important to me was wanting to shed whatever mask I’d been wearing so that I could at least be myself in the world, instead of some version of myself that I thought was appropriate.” Intimate, frank and revitalised in the love of music which first kickstarted his career, My Favourite Faded Fantasy is a record which accepts one’s faults but also begins, perhaps, to appreciate one’s abilities. Damien Rice is in equal possession of both.
D**D
Enveloping With Orchestral Musical Delight
This was the first album I bought of Damien Rice, I had heard songs from his huge hit O but I had not really gone out of the way to the purchase album. I came across a video on Youtube which I thought at the time was the official video for the song it was only later I realised this video was actually a award winning European film but the details didn't matter it was the song that overwhelmed me , which was 'I Don't Want To Change You'. From the beginning with the haunting sweep of strings and orchestral arrangement and then Damien Rice's vulnerable vocal it really moved me. It was one of those moments when I was straight on here to purchase the album.Sometimes buying the album is a disappointment because the other songs don't resonate the same way but that is not the case, all the songs are beautiful and deeply moving, though another stand out track for me is 'It Takes A Lot To Know A Man. (Take another look on Youtube and look for the one-to-one video, utter spine tingling experience)I have gone on to have Damien Rice's Albums 'O' and '9' and once again shows what a musical genius he is... but this album is my Favourite and I don't think it will ever become Faded for me
S**E
Love this album
****** Six stars from me. Love this album. End of. It's genius musical landscaping, deep and rich. Something new turns up on each listening. If people dont like this because they are trying to be cool or something then good luck to them. I have no time for that pretentious type of critic. This sound is deeply embedded in the Irish psyche, raw, emotional, from the western seaboard. There has been so much amazing music made in Ireland and so little of it gets off the Island to the wider public. Damien is an exception. If people like this sound check out the back catalogue of The Frames (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMccPJqyg0o) and Damiens old band Juniper reformed as BellX1 (Paul Noonan is a very talented songwriter). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHZy2bdajQM. Thats just the tip of the Iceberg. If you want to learn to be a songwriter, go live in Ireland. Really looking forward to Damien's next record, which he hopes to make next year, by which time I will have played this album 100 times.
R**C
I instantly fell in love with "Colour me in' and 'The greatest bastard' To ...
I'm going to be honest. Up until about 2 weeks ago, I had never heard of Damien Rice. An andriod app called 'Track ID' led me to a YouTube video from a tv series 'the vampire diaries'. I instantly fell in love with "Colour me in' and 'The greatest bastard'To me, it's perfect music to sit and think to. I bought this album on vinyl, something about the subtle hiss and crackle adds something slightly nostalgic to it. If you have ever had a dark place in your past where you fell out of friends with life, this could be an album for you, you can tell from his lyrics and his music that he has been there too. Best enjoyed in a quiet room with the lights turned down low.
M**H
Indie Cream is an anagram of Damien Rice.
From My Favourite Faded Fantasy it is abundantly and painfully clear that Damien suffers for his art and we are the beneficiaries. "I dream nice" is how it all starts - again - but Damien knows he has a self destruct button and worse that he keeps pressing it! "Ice and Mire" is how it usually ends - thus far at least. BUT Damien is a hopeFULL romantic so Is driven to try again. I sincerely hope that Lisa Hannigan and other muses/beguilees have fared better ......Damien plays his own tunes to his own agenda. My Favourite Faded Fantasy has real depth but is never going to be background music - it demands your attention. It is entirely worthy of five stars.
C**E
Damien Rice broadens his musical pallete
Damien Rice surprised the world when he announced the release of his third album earlier this year. Being so long since his previous release, I was exited by the prospect of a new album, but also a little cautious.I can safely say that 'My Favourite Faded Fantasy' is a really good album. It may not be as great or memorable as his debut, but it is probably at least as good as '9'. Most importantly however, Damien Rice has shown that he is able to develop his style and free himself from the restrictions that being an acoustic singer-songwriter can have. This album is certainly more 'commercial' sounding (and no doubt it will also be a commercial success), but it is equally daring (nine and a half minute track lengths ahoy!). Some tracks are of a similar vein to earlier works, but some are much more lighter in tone (and dare I say poppier?). I'm sure there are people who will miss the grittier, more personal sounds of 'O', or the beautiful voice of Lisa Hannigan, but if this album says anything about Damien Rice, it's that he isn't afraid to progress. That, more than anything is the mark of a great songwriter.
J**N
This may be one of my favourite albums of all time.
This is a fantastic CD, and better than I had imagined. After enjoying his first CDs so much, I wasn't sure how good this one would be in comparison, but it is absolutely brilliant. Damien's singing is so gentle and heartfelt, and with his lyrics are a match made in heaven.It is a very atmospheric album, and I would recommend listening to it whilst relaxing with a glass of wine. The melodies and gentle harmonies are wonderful, and I'm thinking this is probably his best album yet.I only received it yesterday morning, and have listened to it three times all the way through.I think that perhaps this will be one of my favourite albums of all time.
W**G
Less known but great
A very good album as you'd expect from Mr Rice
M**N
A Masterpiece, does take a long time !
It's been a long, long wait for Damien's new album, but I think it's been well worth the wait. If you liked his two previous albums, you'll love this.He hasn't changed his musical style, why fix what not's broken ? I find it difficult to think of another artist, that paints such a vivid, textured, soundscape, with so much intense, subtle, emotive vocal passion ?One things for sure, I don't think we will have to wait another eight years, for his next offering !....in the meantime, just relax, chill out, and get lost in Damien's world, with his latest masterpiece !
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