Single Review by Mark Bayross
Badly Drawn Boy is the work of Damon Gough, a kind of Mancunian Beck who has accumulated much muso journo praise for his genre-hopping pop experimentation. Despite this wilful occupation of the left-of-field, last year’s ONCE AROUND THE BLOCK single actually made a dent in the Top 50.
ANOTHER PEARL is taken from Badly Drawn Boy’s forthcoming debut album, THE HOUR OF BEWILDERBEAST, and it’s pretty standard fayre – straightforward, if slightly angular guitar pop with a hint of electronics. Only the third track, CHAOS THEORY, is a real departure from the traditional song structure: a seven-minute jaunt through spacey bleeps, clattering drums and Pixies-style guitars. It even finds the time to become oddly affecting, when the strings come in, before rocking out then fading away with a minute of eerie feedback.
Both were co-produced with fellow Twisted Nerve artist Andy Votel, while the more introspective DISTANT TOWN was co-produced by The Away Team.
Not groundbreaking then, but still pretty decent. If the debut album leans towards the wonderfully hatstand CHAOS THEORY then it will be superb.
