Damien Rice - 9

Damien Rice has a new album, entitled "9", coming out on November 14th. This is very exciting news for those of us who adored his first release, 2003's "O". Damien's melancholy folk style on O made it feel like an instant classic. It was sincere, beautiful and had a lot of emotion in it. I have high hopes for 9 after hearing the first track from the album, "9 Crimes", which is really beautiful and reminiscent of tracks from O. Perhaps I shouldn't have such high hopes though, after reading the review that is posted on Amazon.com...

Not quite as endearing as his raw and seductive 2002 debut, O, the second full-length album by Irish troubadour Damien Rice finds him taking a more slapdash approach to his lyrics and arrangements, with balmy tracks like "Rootless Tree," "Coconut Skins," and "Me, My Yoke, and I" seemingly made up and recorded on the spot. Strange then that it took so long for 9 to actually arrive, with just a handful of odd collaborations (Tori Amos, Herbie Hancock) and one promising benefit single ("Unplayed Piano") to hold fans over during the four-year delay. Nothing here quite achieves the lush poetry on display there, although Rice and his singing companion Lisa Hannigan come close with the creepy opening track "9 Crimes" and the damaged whisper-to-a-scream ballad, "Elephant." --Aidin Vaziri

Ouch, that's not what I want to hear, but I loved O so much that I definitely thought it worth the risk to pre-order the album all the same. His inclusion of Lisa Hannigan again is definitely a plus, as I think her vocals to his songs take them from great to extraordinary.

• "9 Crimes" (link no longer available due to bandwidth issues)
• "Volcano"
• "The Professor"