/ 29 October 2014

Exclusive: Behind the scenes of Damien Rice’s ‘My Favourite Faded Fantasy’

'My Favourite Faded Fantasy'
'My Favourite Faded Fantasy'

Irish musician Damien Rice’s My Favourite Faded Fantasy follows the seminal O, which sold 2.5-million copies worldwide, won the prestigious Shortlist Prize and spent 10 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart. 

The first single taken from the new album, I Don’t Want to Change You, is set for release this month. During his 12-year solo career, Rice has released two full-length albums, two live recordings and an EP. My Favourite Faded Fantasy, produced by acclaimed United States producer Rick Rubin, is Rice’s first collection of material in eight years.

“Sometimes you have to step away from what you love in order to learn how to love it again,” says Rice regarding the long gap between albums. While fans would repeatedly ask “when?”, for Rice, the real question had shifted to “why make an album at all?” The latest offering suggests the answer may have been staring right back at him all along. The album is made up of a selection of songs, which Rice says are “sung straight into the metaphorical mirror”. 

Intimate, frank and revitalised by making music again, My Favourite Faded Fantasy is a record that accepts one’s faults but also begins, perhaps, to appreciate one’s ability to grow up. The recording process with producer Rubin began in Los Angeles and was completed in Iceland. “I came to Rick mostly based on what I didn’t know about him, rather than what I did. For some reason I just had a feeling that I would feel comfortable being open and being me and being vulnerable with Rick.” 

Rubin, meanwhile, first saw Rice play live around the release of O, and recalls: “he was my favourite new artist at the time. A lot of our work together was to help him see what was so clear to everyone else in the room.” Rice then went from Los Angeles to Iceland and assembled a cast of friends and local musicians to complete My Favourite Faded Fantasy against the backdrop of Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland.

Pre-order the album here and instantly receive the track My Favourite Faded Fantasy.