Listen: Damien Rice - "One" (U2 Cover)

It's been ten years since we first heard "The Blowers Daughter" by the then-novel Irish alt-troubadour Damien Rice and since that time we've only seen a pair of albums: the mind-blowingly great O in 2002 and it's anti-climactic 2006 follow up 9. So we were both interested and a bit cautious when we heard that the extended dormancy of Rice's creative output was put on hold with this version of U2's classic "One" on a new Q Magazine-sponsored covers tribute to Achtung Baby. It's long and winding at nearly five and a half minutes and surprisingly dispassionate but it does present the song in the context of some interesting Rice-styled folk intimacy. To which reply, "...and?"

Damien Rice - "One"