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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
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9
by Damien Rice
The Irish singer-songwriter returns with a second album.
| LABEL: |
Heffa / Vector |
| RELEASE DATE: |
14 November 2006 |
| DISCS: |
1 disc |
| GENRE(S): |
Singer-Songwriter, Rock, Folk, Adult Alternative |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
musicOMH.com
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.
88
Los Angeles Times
There are not as many revelations as on Rice's acclaimed 2002 debut, "O," but it still can be sonically thrilling.
80
Observer Music Monthly
Quite addictive.
80
Blender
Even when he tips the sensitivity scales too much... Rice’s innate, anti-lite-FM intensity saves him.
80
Uncut
A delicate and sometimes bleak record. [Dec 2006, p.123]
80
Q Magazine
9 may be quiet, but it is never easy listening. [Dec 2006, p.125]
80
Mojo
Rice 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]
80
Spin
Rice seeks 24/7 momentousness here. [Jan 2007, p.92]
80
Lost At Sea
An album to which listening compares to watching The Break-up or The Last Kiss.
75
The Phoenix
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.
75
The Onion (A.V. Club)
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.
75
Entertainment Weekly
Rice stands apart from the pack because of the genuine beauty and eccentricity of his tunes.
70
Slant Magazine
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.
70
All Music Guide
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.
70
Under The Radar
While O floated along pretty much at one consistently delicate pace, 9 finds Rice exploring a wider range of musical expression. [#16, p.97]
60
Paste Magazine
While not as panoramic or varied as its predecessor, 9 is marked by a similar mix of poised control and impulsive gestures backed by dramatically arranged, lyrical instrumentation. [Dec 2006, p.92]
60
Billboard
It is simply miserable, heavy, repetitive and cathartic. [18 Nov 2006]
60
Rolling Stone
The tortured melancholy bit -- part of it, anyway -- takes a back seat on the follow-up to this Irish bard's well-loved 2003 debut.
60
Village Voice
As it was on 2003's O, Damien Rice's songs are so naked emotionally that even listening is akin to eavesdropping on a bad breakup.
60
NOW Magazine
It's good enough to impress fans of David Gray and Coldplay.
60
Amazon.com
Not quite as endearing as his raw and seductive 2002 debut.
50
Dot Music
"9" picks up where the ubiquitous and two-million selling "O" left off. Hoarse howling to acoustic guitar strumming; folksy plucking to bleeding heart mutterings; Radiohead-a-like moments pull of portentous, look-at-me pauses and full band crescendos.
40
The Guardian
He quivers, moans and pleads in obsessive contemplation of the darling departed in a self-dramatising simulation of catharsis that wrings from his performances an ocean of emotion when a drop of understated restraint would prove more telling.
40
The New York Times
"9"... has a confused feel: he simultaneously glosses up the production, tries too hard to seem edgy, then compares women to sandy shores and the morning sun like an adult-contemporary sap. [20 Nov 2006]
40
New Musical Express
He's terribly earnest. [4 Nov 2006, p.35]
40
PopMatters
Not all of 9 is obnoxious, though. Much of it is merely boring; the unmemorable tunes failing to elevate beyond everyday, coffee house, bland competency.
25
Stylus Magazine
The biggest problem might be Rice’s vocal technique. On O, he had a tendency to endearingly strain for notes he couldn’t reach. Now, it sounds like he’s purposefully written songs to allow him to overextend his thin voice.
19
Pitchfork
Whenever Rice risks truly touching us emotionally-- say, when he's asking a former lover, "Do you brush your teeth before you kiss?" on "Accidental Babies"-- he undercuts himself with go-nowhere melodies and formulaic arrangements.
The average user rating for this album is 8.3 (out of 10) based on 29 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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