0011. Badly Drawn Boy
The Hour Of Bewilderbeast

It starts off with a cello which soon get company in the form of a french horn and a guitar. And then there's a loud voice. Well, maybe not loud per se, but his voice is extremely audible in the mix. I'm not entierly sure what I think of it as it sets the voice apart from the instruments, but I guess it's got some point to it.

I definitely understand why Badly Drawn Boy became popular - apart from the oversized hat and the awakening of motherly feelings he inspires - he's got some catchy tunes which sounds like they've been around for ages. But therein lies the problem: I can hear distinct echoes of other peoples work in probably half of the tracks. If not as clearly as Alice In Chains in Everybodys Stalking at least amalgamations of other bands' productions.

Then there's tracks like Fall In A River and Say It again which are a little bit too gimmicky for me with their metareferences (even though the latter has a real nice musical vibe to it). I really can't stand the type of stuff that goes on in Epitaph; conciously hitting the wrong notes (in an attempt to do what?) just makes me mad (probably the goal - yes, I am the center of the universe). I just can't se the charm in singing like Håkan Hellström, and I never will.

I'd say that this is a good album if you hate what's on your preferred rado station at the moment: you get an adequate mix of random radio hits. Mix in some chit-chat and you've got your own private radio while you do something else. Not too bad, but not too great. The Hour Of Bewilderbeast is simply good background music.