Backstage Pass

Think you have Damien Rice pegged? Think again. For a self-proclaimed "Irish hippie" dressed like a sad, rumpled professor, Rice sure has been screaming a lot in concert - as therapy, as motivation, and, occasionally, out of rage. And for a singer-songwriter who has built his reputation on delicate, excruciatingly personal acoustic folk songs, Rice is now using a lot of distortion on his guitars and vocals.

He's in the midst of a transition that can seem jarring - a step further than even his latest album "9" (Heffa/Warner Bros.) would suggest, one that reflects a need to break away from his previous image and the musical confines of acoustic simplicity.

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The change was apparent early with "I Remember," a pretty, wistful duet with Lisa Hannigan from his breakthrough album "O" (Vector), which was transformed into feedback-drenched '70s prog-rock that ended with Rice howling. The spare "Amie" became an art-rock piece, as he recorded his vocals during the song and played them back looped onstage, so he could manipulate the sounds for a thunderous close. On "Volcano," he distorted his vocals to sound more menacing and finished the song with screams and growling.

It's a shift that fits better with his newer songs, especially the raging "Rootless Tree" and "Me, My Yoke and I," which welds heavy metal to Vyvienne Long's lush cello playing.

"I'm in strange form tonight," said Rice, after a raucous version of "Coconut Skins."

It was only last month that Rice celebrated the release of "9" with a loose, laid-back set at Hiro Ballroom, where he barely touched an electric guitar and all his songs were distortion-free. At that show, Rice talked about not wanting to sing depressing songs on tour for a year.

Apparently he has hit on a compromise. His songs still are quite dark - about busted relationships, heated arguments and loves lost - but he can exorcise more demons through howling, both vocally and through his guitar.

The layers of distortion give Rice's performance more distance, made even more noticeable when he closed that gap by singing "Cannonball" at the foot of the stage with no microphone and an unamplified acoustic guitar. Rice admits his songs are about his life, but he can suffer less openly on stage if he sings in character (one that often sounds like a demonic carnival barker) instead of as himself.

Maybe Glen Hansard of The Swell Season explained it best during his band's opening set. The singer, best known for his work with The Frames, introduced "Leave," one of several charming acoustic numbers that sounded more like Rice's "O" than many new songs from Rice himself, by saying, "An Irishman's defense mechanism is: Sidestep, guffaw and then slip into nonsense."

All Rice's distortion isn't quite nonsense, but it is a sidestep, albeit an enjoyable one, from what he does best.