Damien Rice to release new album after eight year absence

My Favourite Faded Fantasy is scheduled for release this November

Damien Rice has returned to the music scene after an eight-year absence (Atlantic Records)

Irish singer-songwriter Damien Rice has announced his first studio album in eight years.

Set for release on 3 November, the eight-track My Favourite Faded Fantasy follows 2006’s 9 and has been co-produced by Rick Rubin.

The “Cannonball” star has shared a teaser of the title song after first dropping a hint on Twitter last week.

He posted a picture of an album tracklist sitting on a piano and linked to his official website, damienrice.com.

Tracks featuring on the new album include “It Takes A Lot To Know A Man”, “The Greatest Bastard” and “Colour Me In”. The first official single will be “I Don’t Want To Change You”.

Rice achieved worldwide success with the multi-million-selling O in 2002, before taking time out from music.

“Sometimes you have to step away from what you love in order to learn how to love it again,” he said, describing his new material as "sung straight into the metaphorical mirror".

The artwork for Damien Rice's third album My Favourite Faded Fantasy

Fans can pre-order My Favourite Faded Fantasy from Amazon now.