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ABOUT A BOY
Badly Drawn Boy
(XL/Beggars)
Damon Gough can spin wonderous tunes from an acoustic guitar and a four-track deck when he wants to, sure. But give the guy a Hollywood budget, and the true scope of his pop visions become apparent.
On his soundtrack album to About A Boy, the coming Hugh Grant movie adapted from Nick "High Fidelity" Hornby, Gough takes the kind of effortless strumming and electro-burbling that signalled the peak moments of his 2000 The Hour Of The Bewilderbeast album and weaves in the string-swept sophistication of a cinema classic.
The result is neither pompous nor novel; just a crisp and bittersweet collection of tunes accented by the odd bit of incidental music.
Also impressive is the way Gough sets hook after hook without losing the flow a film score demands -- all while shifting with consistent rhythm between jaunty folk-rock (Something To Talk About), psychedelic waltzes (Above You, Below Me), various funk oddities (A Peak You Reach, S.P.A.T.) and tinkling indie-pop gems (Walking Out Of Stride). But it's the singular single Silent Sigh, with its weepy piano progression played bright and fast over a bumping groove, that captures what might be Gough's most shining four-and-a-half minutes yet.
Track Listing