{"id":222,"date":"2015-01-04T17:16:13","date_gmt":"2015-01-04T22:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/culturated.com\/?p=222"},"modified":"2015-01-04T17:16:13","modified_gmt":"2015-01-04T22:16:13","slug":"damien-rice-favorite-faded-fantasy-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/culturated.com\/damien-rice-favorite-faded-fantasy-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Damien Rice- My Favorite Faded Fantasy Review"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Released in 2002, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.damienrice.com\"><strong>Damien Rice<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s <span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong><i>O <\/i><\/strong><\/span>was arguably among the most critically acclaimed debut albums ever released by a singer-songwriter.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>It also provided the gut wrenching soundtrack to the rise and fall (and rise and fall and rise and fall\u2026) of one of the most torturous romantic relationships of my life. Nobody sings songs of angst-riddled emotional conflict better than this wounded Irish troubadour and, in my eyes, <i>O<\/i> may never be equalled as an epic ode to the anguish and agony of heartache.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>But a funny thing happened on the way to stardom. With Rice\u2019s extraordinary success came disenchantment, arrogance and, ultimately, the self-doubt that arises from emotional insecurity. The 2006 follow-up to his debut, <strong><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><i>9<\/i><\/span><\/strong>, received mixed response from critics and fans alike. The subsequent tour brought a brutal, highly public breakup with longtime girlfriend\/collaborator <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lisa_Hannigan\"><strong>Lisa Hannigan<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ByBeOgdjZ6w\" width=\"653\" height=\"380\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy relationships with the people in the band were starting to disintegrate,\u201d he recalled in an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.independent.ie\/entertainment\/music\/damien-rice-i-opened-every-can-of-worms-i-could-30699984.html\"><strong>interview with Ireland\u2019s <i>Independent<\/i><\/strong><\/a>. \u201cI wasn&#8217;t happy, but I was in a position where I was theoretically supposed to be happy. And if I&#8217;m not happy in that situation, then I become a miserable, unappreciative git.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>For 8 years\u2013 an eternity in the ever-evolving music world\u2013 Rice seemed likely to become an indie-folk JD Salinger, not even releasing so much as a single during that time. In 2009 he told a reporter, \u201cI would give away all of the music success, all the songs, and the whole experience to still have Lisa in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>It was in Iceland that he ultimately found himself again, enlisting the help of producer Rick Rubin and collaborators Marketa Irglova (<i>Once<\/i>) and Alex Somers (boyfriend\/collaborator of Sigur Ros frontman J\u00f3nsi) for what would become this stunning return to form.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/My-Favourite-Faded-Fantasy-608x608.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-223 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/My-Favourite-Faded-Fantasy-608x608.jpg\" alt=\"Damien-Rice-My-Favourite-Faded-Fantasy-Review\" width=\"507\" height=\"507\" srcset=\"https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/My-Favourite-Faded-Fantasy-608x608.jpg 507w, https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/My-Favourite-Faded-Fantasy-608x608-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/My-Favourite-Faded-Fantasy-608x608-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/My-Favourite-Faded-Fantasy-608x608-330x330.jpg 330w, https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/My-Favourite-Faded-Fantasy-608x608-480x480.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 507px) 100vw, 507px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>If you didn\u2019t like Rice\u2019s early epics, such as &#8220;Cannonball,&#8221; \u201cCold Water\u201d and \u201cCheers Darlin\u2019,\u201d then <i><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong>My Favorite Faded Fantasy<\/strong><\/span><\/i> is unlikely to make you a convert. With just eight songs clocking in at over 50 minutes, the album is unapologetically arty and ambitious, giving each composition ample time and space to build dynamic tension gradually.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>On the surface, not much has changed in 12 years: Rice still writes about the highs and lows of love in confessional tones that feel like stolen glimpses of his diary or eavesdropping on an intimate conversation. But in terms of the vocals and arrangements there\u2019s tremendous growth and expansion on display, from the yearning falsetto of the opening title track and\u00a0the string-laden gut-punch of the 9-minute \u201cIt Takes a Lot to Know a Man\u201d to the choir on the climax of &#8220;Trusty and True.&#8221; These songs (as well as\u00a0\u201cThe Greatest Bastard,\u201d another highlight) are rich with emotion and lushly detailed, revealing deeper layers with repeated listens.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In the end, Damien Rice is still just as conflicted and complicated as ever. \u201cIt\u2019s a long way back if you get lost,\u201d he sings on the closing track, \u201cLong Long Way,\u201d which ends with the mantra, \u201cLove is tough when enough is not enough.\u201d But the glimpses of hopeful optimism on <i>My Favorite Faded Fantasy <\/i>suggest that Rice is finally back, and perhaps ready to move on from his Hannigan heartbreak once and for all. \u00a0<em><strong>\u2013Bret Love<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Released in 2002, Damien Rice\u2019s O was arguably among the most critically acclaimed debut albums ever released by a singer-songwriter. &nbsp; It also provided&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":224,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[7,12],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Damien_Rice.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5slei-3A","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}