Badly Drawn Boy: Born In the UK

Badly Drawn Boy
Born In the UK
Astralwerks

At indie rock’s exclusive beach resort, Damon Gough is the bearded dude in the inner-tube, floating further and further from the shore. Six years removed from his canonized debut The Hour of Bewilderbeast, the man better known as Badly Drawn Boy has just released his third consecutive critical piñata, Born In the UK—an album that has fickle indie kids accusing Gough of Liz Phair-like atrocities against his own talent.

With the aid of something called objectivity, however, Born In the UK is a decent enough send up on 70’s era, slickly produced piano pop. Yes, it doesn’t hold a candle to Bewilderbeast’s subtle quirkiness, and Gough’s lyrics have gotten more than a tad blunt (as in James), but sometimes a pop record can just be a pop record, rather than a life affirming, mind altering experience. Right?

Almost in spite of the 72 backing tracks on each song, a number of winners emerge, including the anthemic title track, nicely countrified “The Way Things Used to Be,” and classically catchy “Journey From A to B.” The nonstop sentimentality does become a bit much after a while, but Gough is one of the few singers who can pull it off with minimal cringe inducing moments. He just sounds like a guy who’s still pretty sure about what he’s doing, even if his original fanbase is a little perplexed.

(Andrew Clayman)

Published in The Metro Pulse, November 2006