Sometimes schizophrenia can be a beautiful thing. Take, for example, Badly Drawn Boy's new CD, The Hour of Bewilderbeast. The guy's soft side may sound like a sober Elliott Smith with a British accent, but don't let that fool you. True, most of the songs on this debut LP combine lilting guitars with folksy lyrics about nature and camping, but Mr. Boy, otherwise known as Damon Gough, is just as capable of letting heavy guitars do the talking as he is whispering about rain and rivers. The contrast makes for an album with a split personality, as if each song comes from a different recess of Gough's psyche.
Songs like "Disillusion" sound like the stuff modern Brit-pop is made of, using driving guitars and melodic vocals to maintain the energy from beginning to end. Other songs are just pure aural chaos, like samples of a French woman talking added to reverberating guitars and electronic beats. Imagine a disc that mixes Beck, Blur and Bob Dylan, and you've got some idea of what it feels like to listen to Bewilderbeast.
Besides samples and spacey sound effects, Gough draws upon a wide array of instruments to formulate his schizophrenic sonic fusions. Violins, harmonica, piano, organs, acoustic, electric and slide guitars make frequent appearances throughout the album, sometimes stealing the focus away from Gough's lyrics. The result is moving, even if it does get a bit too orchestral at times, leaving the mellow rock feel behind in an ethereal mist of reeds and strings.
The Hour of Bewilderbeast is at its best on songs like "Pissing in the Wind" and "Stone on the Water," where Gough gets a chance to express the sweet melancholy that seems to be inherent in his voice and lyrics without fighting the instruments for the spotlight. These songs are pure rapture-nice, sleepy music that makes you want to curl up with a candle and write poems about waterfalls and moonlight. Just don't get too comfortable, or the wailing birds and bombs on the next track will shock the hell out of your peaceful groove.
-By Kelly McVicker
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.