Damien Rice shared his most brutally heart-wrenching song yet from his upcoming My Favourite Faded Fantasy with "The Greatest Bastard."
"Am I the greatest bastard that you met?" Rice asks in the third single. "The only one you can't forget? / Am I the one your truth's been waiting for? / Am I just dreaming once again? / Some dreams are better when they end."
The five-minute song does not get much brighter from there either. After lamenting, "I never meant to let you down" for a few bars, Rice gives up on words and opts for some melodic humming. Listen below, via Consequence of Sound.
He also shared a short video clip for the song, which can be found below.
Producer Rick Rubin seems to have helped the Irish singer-songwriter tap into some of his tortured past on this third studio effort, out Nov. 11. The first two singles, "I Don't Want to Change You" and the title track, are equally painful, but a pure delight for the ears.
"For some reason, I just had a feeling that I would feel comfortable being open and being me and being vulnerable with Rick," the artist said in a video about the album.
It has been eight years since Rice put out 9, which made it to No. 22 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. The album received mostly mixed reviews, with Pitchfork giving it a low 1.9 out of 10 and Rolling Stone scoring it with three out of five stars.
"This album promises nine crimes, but at 10 tracks, it's actually a bargain," Pitchfork wrote. "Hints, allegations, and things left unsaid."
Rice is currently on the road through Nov. 21.
