Damien Rice

There's a particular kind of songwriter who seems to write because they have to, not because they're trying to build a career — and Irish folk rocker Damien Rice has always felt like one of them.

After walking away from a record deal, he tried his hand at farming in Tuscany, and busking his way across Europe until he returned to Ireland in 1999 with little more than songs. His debut album, o, was written, recorded, and produced at home ? funded by a loan from his father that needn't be repaid if the record was finished, and carried further by equipment and belief from his second cousin, the composer David Arnold.

Released in February 2002 on his own label, he initially thought it would be the only record he'd ever make. Twenty-five years on ? through the touring, the silence, the surreal and swift passing of time ? the songs of o have never stopped travelling with him. Now he returns to where it all began: 25 cities for the 25th anniversary of o, the music that started it all, played again for the audience that grew around it and the new audience drawn to its sense of timelessness.

His confessional songwriting and stripped-back sound helped shape a wave of introspective singer-songwriters in the 2000s, and his work still feels like a touchstone for anyone drawn to raw, unfiltered music. Live, he has built a reputation as someone who doesn't just perform a song but seems to live through it again each time ? which is probably why, even with long silences between records, people are still curious about what he may do next.

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