Damien Rice’s second full-length album 9 sounds more like coffee shop music than anything fresh and new, but the lyrics are freshly brewed.

The singer’s track “”The Blower’s Daughter,”” part of his first album O, rises above any of the new tracks on 9. The song was even used in the movie “”Closer,”” bringing it huge success. It has more texture and more feeling than most tracks on 9 as well.

Rice decides to sway from his melancholic vocals in several tracks, but his voice gets lost in the background. The soft rock in tracks like “”Rootless Tree”” show Rice’s voice as it compresses to a tragic shrivel. This is when Rice isn’t mouthing the F-word like it grows on trees.

“”Elephant,”” on the other hand, brings a genius lyrical arrangement to the album. “”You can both keep me pinned/’Cause it’s easier to tease/But you can’t make me happy/Quite as good as me/Well you know that’s a lie,”” Rice sings.

Rice works better in the melancholic state that most people recognize his singing from. “”The Animals Were Gone”” showcases Rice’s teary tone. As violins lacking beats weave through Rice’s lyrics, he sings, “”Oh, I know that I left you in places of despair/Oh, I know that I love you, so please throw down your hair/At night I trip without you, and hope I don’t wake up/’Cause waking up without you is like drinking from an empty cup.””

Rice’s folk influences and sound lacks structure in this album. Rice should go back to the sound of O – his formula for successð – before he releases his next album.