Badly Drawn Boy
“Born in the U.K.”
ASTRALWERKS RECORDS
Badly Drawn Boy used to have a fitting moniker. Now he’s working on winning it back. In 2000, the singer/songwriter (one Damon Gough) won the Mercury Prize and set himself high among his contemporaries with “The Hour of Bewilderbeast,” a messy, confusing rabbit hole of an album. “Bewilderbeast” was filled with nuggets of craft and melody buried in interludes and transitions, a style that also worked well on his next album, the soundtrack for “About A Boy.” Gough’s McCartney-esque songs were balanced with his incidental music for the film, and Nick Hornby’s story gave him plenty of narrative fodder. But “Born in the U.K.” is Badly Drawn Boy’s fifth album, and over the last few years, he’s been more of an Anatomically Correct Man – all writing and no risks, cliches outweighing storytelling, and self-conscious, convoluted arrangements. Gough’s weakness is as a constructor of songs: His early work capitalized on his knack for winning melodies and chord changes by showcasing them in brief, exciting bursts, and in stretching everything out and lining them up like undistinguished ducks, but his songs lost their energy. “Born in the U.K.” comes halfway back to capturing his early enthusiasm, abandoning the gaudy instrumentation that characterized his last two albums in favor of a stripped-down guitar and piano-based sound. The title track kicks things off with raucous drumming that threatens to overwhelm Gough’s love/hate relationship with his home country: “Then you see the Union Jack / And it means nothing / ...It’s a small reminder every day / That I was born in the U.K.” If there’s a concept to the album, it’s a retrospective: Gough looks back on his life, loves and history with verve and, importantly, less lovey-dovey schmaltz. He fares better on the shorter songs, when he leaves you wanting more; the five-minute-plus “Without a Kiss” sinks into redundancy, though the similarly lengthy “Promises” manages to stay urgent. Single “Nothing’s Gonna Change Your Mind” is textbook Badly Drawn Boy, a simple piano ballad that builds to a crescendo. The album finishes off with a strong run of conclusory tracks, from the jazzy Bacharach-pop of “Long Away Around” to the average Joe love story of “One Last Dance.” The album’s title is an obvious nod to Bruce Springsteen, a longtime Gough idol, and perhaps it signals a renewed determination. Though the album features a new collaborator – Nick Franglen of Lemon Jelly – the change in direction seems to have come from within. On “Born in the U.K.,” Badly Drawn Boy is still coloring within the lines, but there’s an intensity here that was missing before. While he may never regain his early footing, in an age where heartless robots such as James Blunt pass as songwriters, Gough’s melodic, introspective brand of pop is a breath of fresh air.
E-mail Greenwald at dgreenwald@media.ucla.edu.