Badly Drawn Boy - 'One Plus One Is One' (XL)
4/5
By: Toby L
Following the Broadway zeal and majesty of BDB's expansive third LP, 'Have You Fed The Fish?' Damon Gough returns once more shaggy-bearded and craply-hatted with the understated 'One Plus One Is One'.
You presume it's a revolt to the plushness of recording a previous album in glitzy LA, a revert to the lo-fi textures of his classic debut, 'The Hour Of Bewilderbeast' (I mean, cripes, this one was recorded in bloody Stockport). And it's muchly needed. Gough's skill to produce the hit soundtrack-album - 'About A Boy' - or the bold, tuneful masterpiece - '... Fish?' - is a knack treasurable in itself, but it's the subtlety of genius that often most rings true.
Fortunately, 'One...' is an album that positively nestles in the utmost of unbridled subtlety. Tracks are modern-folk foragers, sparse in arrangement and intimately recorded. Such ambience is most endearing for a spirited character such as Damon. It's a poignant, well-calculated return.
We still get some of his infectious tinklings - the kids chorus-sung 'Year Of The Rat', or haunting, string-drenched opening title-track - and a whole lotta love; never before has the family-man seemed so pensive and sensitive: we hear musings over the power of a kiss, and countless declarations and assessments of the beauty of adoration itself, all without the schmaltz. But there's room for a lot of experimentation, the likes of which we've yet to hear from the tramp-lookalike; 'Life Turned Upside Down' is full of vocal-takes being reversed and knocked about in the studio, 'Easy Love' has medieval flutes, and 'Summertime In Wintertime' is Gorky's-styled mess-rock.
Elsewhere, it's downbeat, sombre, minimalist piano/acoustic fumblings, simultaneously scruffy yet refined - 'This Is That New Song', 'Another Devil Dies' prime instances. And, naturally, for all the emoting, it's a potent listen - one best contained in multiple airings before the desired enrichment of past releases becomes evident. But that's Badly Drawn Boy all over: unobvious class; songwriting you can (re)turn to over and over - whether full-scale epic and blaring, or, as herein, more tamed.
Artists in this article: Badly Drawn Boy
Your Feedback
Login to post your comment