On the Shelf 214 : Badly Drawn Boy

Despite a reputation as a difficult live performer, Badly Drawn Boy is one of my favorite artists. Like many artists, his first album casts a large shadow of his discography. That’s fair, but I would counter with two points 1- his second album (which was the About A Boy soundtrack) is a great album and if not as great as Hour of Bewilderbeast, is In the conversation and 2- there are some great songs spread out as hidden gems over the rest of his career.

In 2010, after a 4 year hiatus, we were presented with Its What I’m Thinking Part 1. It was an inspired album that seemed to reinvigorated his career and the title “Part 1” implied that more was soon to come.

Part 2 never came. Instead, we got a decade of mostly silence, so expectations are high for Banana Skin Shoes. Initial listens reveal an album that is influenced by 70s AM Radio- with some slick produced soul and folk influences. It might be a bit disappointing to those who expected a new Bewilderbeast. On the other hand, I can’t imagine too many of the diehards will be that unhappy about it, (though they may have to spend some time with it.)

Stylistically, It is much in line with About a Boy and it certainly captures Badly Drawn Damon in an upbeat mood. The strong moments are the songs that sound like singles, for example “I Need Someone to Trust” and “Note to Self”, and they balance out the songs that kind of disappear in the ether or don’t work within the album’s context (the title track); with enough songs falling somewhere in between. It’s enough for a passing grade, and it’s better to have a new Badly Drawn Boy album than the alternative.

Watch on YouTube