- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
Rice stands apart from the pack because of the genuine beauty and eccentricity of his tunes.
-
There are not as many revelations as on Rice's acclaimed 2002 debut, "O," but it still can be sonically thrilling.
-
Overall, Rice has produced a release which equals and perhaps even surpasses his debut, a album that takes you through emotional highs and lows you are unlikely to hear anywhere else this winter.
-
There are still enough swelling, string-laden climaxes, crisscrossing vocal lines, and cascading symphonies of voices to keep fans of O happy, but the album is significantly less unified.
-
Quite addictive.
-
Even when he tips the sensitivity scales too much... Rice’s innate, anti-lite-FM intensity saves him.
-
He rocks more often and more bombastically, but he still writes few song-songs of the kind that anyone with a guitar could stand on stage and interpret. This music needs Rice's rangy voice and desperate theatricality to work.
-
9 is by no means a failure, or even bad, but it dulls in comparison to what Rice can really produce, which makes it disappointing overall.
-
He avoids being too folksy or slipping into an acoustic coma by layering percussion, electric guitars, and strings when needed. By the end, you’ll feel you’ve been through the same wringer.
-
UncutA delicate and sometimes bleak record. [Dec 2006, p.123]
-
Q Magazine9 may be quiet, but it is never easy listening. [Dec 2006, p.125]
-
MojoRice doesn't dismiss outright the folky troubadour charm that distinguished O, but here it's a springboard for jealousy, sex, misery. [Dec 2006, p.104]
-
SpinRice seeks 24/7 momentousness here. [Jan 2007, p.92]
-
An album to which listening compares to watching The Break-up or The Last Kiss.
-
Under The RadarWhile O floated along pretty much at one consistently delicate pace, 9 finds Rice exploring a wider range of musical expression. [#16, p.97]
User score distribution:
-
Positive: 46 out of 53
-
Mixed: 4 out of 53
-
Negative: 3 out of 53
-
Sep 2, 2014
-
CarlyH.Jan 11, 2009Pitchfork, i read your review, it was RETARDED. You have no REAL reasons behind hating this album. I hate you, pitchfork.
-
AdamP.Jan 1, 2009