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Preview: Damien Rice
by David Sue30/ 3/2007
IN every musical genre, there are the leaders and there are the foot soldiers.
Right now, young upstarts like James Morrison and Paulo Nutini
might be singer-songwriters du jour but it was undoubtedly
Ireland's Damien Rice who led the charge for this whole maudlin
acoustic music invasion.
Two albums in and with multi-platinum sales under his belt, he
returns to reclaim his championship belt at the Apollo this
weekend.
Not that Damien Rice has ever encouraged his "acoustic ringleader''
status, more the opposite. He's often avoided interviews with the
press and even fought against his record company when they wanted
to run adverts on TV for his debut album, O.
Rice's success was very much word-of-mouth, which makes his
graduation to larger venues like the Apollo all the more
remarkable.
You sense he'll cope with the transition. Rice's magic has always
been about cosy familiarity, his organic folk offering personal
lyrical quirkyness instead of the saccharine platitudes favoured by
the many songwriters who've followed in his wake.
Indeed, it's hard not to applaud a songwriter who can write lyrics
such as: "I love your depression and I love your double
chin.''
He's clearly not your archetypal romantic but in the over-heated
singer-songwriter field, that's precisely what makes Rice an
inspiring leader and not a lowly foot soldier.
Damien Rice is on at the Apollo tonight (Friday).
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