Next month, it will be 6 years since Damien Rice’s sophomore record, 9, and yet there’s still no word of a new LP following his split with Lisa Hannigan a half-decade ago. In the meantime, Rice has kept busy as a proven troubadour, busking in Dublin, recording one-off covers, and performing his most beloved cuts at festivals the world over. This week in Los Angeles, he played a surprise intimate set at singer-songwriter haven Hotel Café, complete with three new tunes he said illustrate various stages of a breakup. One song, “Wild and Free,” has been kicking around since last spring, but the others just made their stateside debut. Footage of “The Greatest Bastard” (a worthy addition to the self-deprecating love song canon) is above and “No One Need Know” is below:
“No One Need Know”