Triumphant return from Rice.
Beginning with a beautiful piano intro building to the haunting vocals of Lisa Hannigan, '9 Crimes' is nothing short of a masterful comeback. With the exquisite elegance so perfectly executed throughout 'O', Damien has returned with the album '9' which deals an equally effective emotional blow. '9 Crimes' the opener from the album as well as the first single from the record, provides a perfect example of what to expect from Mr Rice and the wonderful Lisa Hannigan; sumptuous and touching emotional landscapes with captivating vocals complimented by strings and piano.
Backed with brand new b-side 'The Rat Within the Grain' which demonstrates the other, more acerbic side of Rice with lines like "so go play with your piano, write a mediocre song, out the shell of mediocrity and pretend there's nothing wrong," and "I never thought you were a chicken shit I never thought of you at all". The song is simple and sparse, backed only by an acoustic guitar, which works to highlight the rather cutting yet amusing lyrics.
In short, this is a single reaching the heady heights of perfection, with two amazing songs easily illustrating Damien Rice's brilliance. If you have an interest in folk with witty and scathing lyrics then your collection will be soulless without this.