ireland: guiness and great folk music!

so have you given a listen to del amitri yet? i'm tellin' ya, it's good stuff.....

this past week has been a blur of activities. i can't wait for summer break from school. 4 more weeks to go. i have a ministerial ethics class right now. should be an easy one compared to the old testament theo class i just wrapped.

music, music.....what did i listen to this past week? oh yeah, damien rice & the format. let me share...


damien rice - O
[ http://www.damienrice.com/ ]

"what the world needs now is another folk singer, like i need a hole in my head" ~cracker

this however is the one exception i will make.....

so this disc is a few years old already but lately i have found joy in digging up stuff from the past and relistening. funny how the memories come flying in and are so different for each song sometimes.

damien rice is an irish gentleman with a guitar and a good voice. i'd say a great voice but i'm pretty sure there are some out of tune notes on his part, especially on the track 'blowers daughter'.

the songs are low key and not overly produced. which makes sense since this disc was recorded in his house. nothing too fancy i'm sure. i really appreciate the honesty and intimacy of the lyrics. they seem really personal at times and almost painful for him to sing about. that's a sign of a good artist in my opinion when that can be done well as it is here.

a couple of my favorites;
'delicate' - a nice shuffle that shows a lot of emotional range in rice's voice. great line in the song 'why do you sing hallelujah, if it means nothing to you"

'volcano' - this is a sultry little number with some really nice instrumentation. violin and acoustic guitar are always a nice combo. the girl singing on the track fits perfectly. sounds like fiona apple but i dont think it is. probably lisa hannigan, she does most of the backup vocals.

'eskimo' - this track is worth mentioning mainly because it is about 15 minutes long. about halfway through you forget what you are listening to and it comes back towards the end and then fades away at the end.

rating: ****.5 yep, this is a keeper.

stay tuned for the format review....it's getting late now.