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But I'm not a miracle
And you're not a saint
Just another soldier
On a road to nowhere

Damien Rice (born 7 December 1973) is an Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His songs are generally quiet, acoustic, and intense.

He began his musical career as a member of the 1990s rock group Juniper, releasing two singles with the band; after he left, the band regrouped and renamed themselves to Bell X1.

After collaborating with several artists throughout Ireland and England, he released his debut O in 2002. It peaked at #8 on the UK albums chart and produced three top 30 singles in the UK, "Cannonball", "The Blower's Daughter" and "Volcano".

He released his second album, 9, in 2006.

Many of his songs have been fodder for soundtracks, usually during sad or angsty moments.


His work provides examples of

  • Album Title Drop: O is named for a lyric in the song "Amie"; 9 is named for "9 Crimes"
  • Angst: A common theme in his lyrics (see below.)
  • Anguished Declaration of Love: It's more difficult to find Rice songs that aren't this.
  • Break Up Song: "9 Crimes", "Lonelily", "I Remember", it is much easier to list songs that aren't this.
  • Cluster F-Bomb: The chorus of "Rootless Tree".
  • Cover Version: He's covered many songs live, including "Hallelujah", "Creep", and "When Doves Cry"
  • Drunken Song: "Cheers Darlin'" is one of the most perfect examples of this trope.
  • Epic Rocking: While O and 9 may contain extremely long tracks as their final tracks, but at the end of the day it is completely inverted for the former while the latter fades into a very long drone (see Hidden Track below).
    • His 2014 album My Favourite Faded Fantasy contains two real instances of this with "It Takes a Lot to Know a Man" clocking at almost 10 minutes, while "Trusty and True" shying away at only 8 minutes.
  • Fading into the Next Song: "Cheers Darlin'" into "Cold Water" on O.
  • Hidden Track: O had not one but two extra tracks attached to "Eskimo": "Prague" and the saddening a cappella rendition of "Silent Night" sung by Lisa Hannigan, his partner at the time.
    • 9 also had a really long final track that went on for over 21 minutes. Except it was actually 21 minutes long with 16 minutes of wine glasses, Tibetan singing bowl and gibbering in Czech. Then the actual hidden track came after as an unlisted number.
  • Leave the Camera Running: The final 16 minutes of "Sleep Don't Weep" from 9 consists of this.
  • Love Nostalgia Song: "The Blower's Daughter".
  • Shout-Out: "Amie" references The Story of O.
  • Slowcore: While it isn't really that prominent in his music, "Cheers Darlin'" truly stands out as one of his fewer songs in the genre thanks to its bleak lyrical content and drunken tempo (see Drunken Song above).


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