“Warts and all” is right. This EP was recorded at the indie store Fingerprints in Long Beach, California, and includes “Volcano,” “Cannonball,” and “I Remember” from his 2003 debut album, O, and “Rootless Tree,” “Coconut Skins,” and “Grey Room” from 2006’s 9. But the sole interesting bit is a spoken between-song segue where Damien Rice tells us that he really only writes well when he’s depressed and that he wants to get out of that mode and start writing when he’s happy. This heart-on-a-billboard singer-songwriter has hardly proven himself a compelling wordsmith, so I can only imagine how trite the sad sack would be coming from the opposite emotional direction. In the mean time, we get yet another rendering of the same old same old same old songs.

Artist: http://www.damienrice.com
Label: http://www.warnerbrosrecords.com
Audio: http://www.myspace.com/damienrice