Damien Rice set to release debut album O on vinyl for the first time

As well as the original tracklist, the album will include both the hidden songs ‘Prague’ and ‘Silent Night’ as well as four bonus tracks which were originally b-sides or bonus material from the time.

The standard version will contain 2 x 180g vinyl as well as lyrics and album artwork.

1,000 limited edition deluxe vinyls will also be released - all of which are hand numbered by Damien Rice himself.

The Celbridge singer-songwriter first teased fans with the announcement in October 2017 when he posted a video on Instagram and Twitter of the album’s opening track ‘Delicate’ being played on a record.

O was originally released in 2002 after Rice spent time working on a farm in Tuscany where he rediscovered his love for music after leaving his first band Juniper despite only releasing two singles. Rice was determined to make the album he wanted to make and refused to allow record labels and producers to interfere.

“Although music is my life, I could drop it like that. The only reason I can’t is because it’s like I’m addicted to it,” said Rice in an interview with Hot Press in 2003.

“I’ve reached the point where I’ve done all the things I wanted to do – all I wanted at the outset was a couple of things that people told me I couldn’t do… make a record without a producer, without a studio, and release it yourself without a record company, and make it work. So I did them all and it worked to the point where I was happy”

The album went on to produce three singles with ‘The Blower’s Daughter’, ‘Cannonball’ and ‘Volcano’ as well as selling over 2 million albums worldwide.

O is dedicated to Mic Christopher who had died the year previously.

The album will be available to pre-order from May 4.