Badly Drawn Boy

One Plus One Is One (Astralwerks)
by Evan Solochek

How I love this plaid-clad Brit in a knit beanie. On One Plus One is One, Badly Drawn Boy (Damon Gough) once again turns tender low-fi folk songs into quirky masterpieces. His heavy baritone punctuates an ensemble of instruments that include horns, violins, cellos, whistles, pianos, and, of course, acoustic guitar. The lovelorn, string-driven “This Is That New Song” showcases both Badly Drawn Boy’s musical ingenuity, but also the dry sense of humor with which he approaches his writing and his emotions. The climax of the album has to be the single, “Year of the Rat,” which is a rivetingly charged somber epic that, in true Badly Drawn Boy fashion, still retains a gentle soul.

The songs on One Plus One Is One are, in general, perfectly balanced and universally appealing. They are simple, but not boring; emotional, but not nauseating; and intelligent, but not pretentious. This latest effort by Badly Drawn Boy only serves as further evidence that he is one of the best singer/songwriters of our time, right along side the likes of Nick Drake and Yusuf Islam.
(www.astralwerks.com)