Here you go. I tried to translate everything as faithfully as possible. I will say I took a few liberties with his responses just to make them sound more natural in English, but I promise I didn't alter the sentiment of what was being said anywhere. Enjoy
REYKJAVIK - It's been eight years since his last published album and for his much anticipated return the Irish singer-songwriter Damien Rice has decided to leave Iceland, the scenic retreat where he has written his new album, My Favorite Faded Fantasy, available November 4. "If it weren't for this island, I probably would have never finished the album," he says.
Born and raised in Celbridge, near Dublin, the forty-year-old Rice is one of the rare anomalies in the contemporary music scene; a much loved artist, capable of selling 3.5 million copies of his albums around the world, and yet continually eschewing celebrity status, to the point that he rarely grants interviews and almost never gives signatures or photographs to his fans, preferring to offer a brief conversation or a warm embrace. "Fame is an artificial thing. It doesn't exist. If I meet a fan and spend the morning with him, the most important thing he will remember at the end of the day is that we were just two people that spent some time with each other."
You rarely give interviews, in fact it's been ten years since you've done one. Why have you decided to speak now?
"I stopped doing interviews because they struck me as rather hazardous. I was afraid of creating some media persona, this other Damien Rice who had nothing to do with who I really was as a person. And also I just prefer to sing than to speak. If there's something I need to say I can usually manage it much better with a guitar in my hands. Prior to recording the album I used to feel that I would conduct these sorts of interviews in many different ways, with many different personalities. In this interview I want to show every side of me, especially the sides I don't necessarily like."
Your previous album, 9, released in 2006. Why did it take so long to record your new album?
"I think I was rather lost at the time. I started playing music when I was thirteen. Music for me, first and foremost, means joy, sharing with others, seeking for beauty in the world. My first band (Juniper) signed this huge contract with a label and suddenly I found that I had a job. That innocent side of the music was gone, it wasn't there anymore. So in 1998 I dropped everything and several months later I arrived in Italy, in Tuscany, and decided to become a farmer. For me, everything I loved was gone at that point.
One day, however, something changed...?
"After spending a few months working on a farm, I realized I was too young to be a farmer and I felt myself getting lost again in the songs in my head, songs that I was longing to record. I returned to Ireland and decided to record an album and end my career with that. Well, I released O, which was received very well and suddenly I found myself touring the world and playing my songs with a group of people I truly adored. We were really happy just being together playing music, through thick and thin. The magic, that innocent aspect of the music, was back, just the same as it had been before. Untouched."
That album remained on the charts for nearly two years and went on to sell over two million copies. Were you surprised by its success?
"Well none of us really expected anything, honestly. It was astonishing. But after that album did so well, we started suddenly really feeling the pressure of recording another, the stress of working returned and just like that the group of us started to crumble apart. And myself, who wanted nothing more than to just be happy.... well... I wasn't. So after that experience, I decided to slow down and give myself as much time as I needed to rediscover the joy in making music."
Why did you choose to leave your home again, this time to go to Iceland?
"I felt I needed a place where I could be away from all the pressure, a place I could just be by myself at home, invite over friends and company when I wanted, and just play music for the love of playing it. It took a while to adjust to the new situation and lifestyle there, but in the end everything started to feel normal, comfortable. During those years, I changed the way I thought too, the way I lived my life. I used to play the victim quite often, feeling the world was a harsh and hostile place. Now, instead, I try to open myself up to new opportunities. I realized that it's possible for someone, myself included, to be the most sensitive person in the world but also the most heartless. Sometimes you can do both at the same time. And realizing and accepting that is very liberating."
You are greatly admired by many of your contemporaries, from Thom Yorke to Radiohead, even Bono of U2. Who do you look up to?
"Probably Leonard Cohen, a simply wonderful human being. I had the privilege of opening a few shows for him and meeting him was a very powerful experience. Leonard, more than anyone else, taught me to use msuic to discover even the darkest and most obscure sides of my mind and to live with that newfound awareness of myself. I learned so much from him, from his kindness, from his wonderful openness and simplicity in living."
The tickets for your only concert in Italy, on October 23rd in Milan, sold out in two days. How do you handle knowing that you really are a celebrity to so many people around the world?
"If you had asked me that ten years ago, I would have had a very problematic time dealing with something like that, responding to that sort of question. Today though, it's something that I have come to understand and accept at a very deep level. I've seen this type of adoration for many artists, Cohen included. My response now is that it's not me, it's my music that reaches out and touches all those people. They might believe that it's Damien Rice doing it, but in truth that's not how it is. I am only the channel through which the music flows."
Will it be another eight years before we hear your next album?
"No, actually. I want to start recording my fourth album as soon as possible. I already have several songs that are almost done, just waiting to be finished."