Album Review: Badly Drawn Boy - Banana Skin Shoes

It’s been a few years in the bewilderness for Damon Gough aka Badly Drawn Boy, but finally we have something to talk about. We last heard from the Badly Drawn Boy back in 2012, soundtracking his second Paul Weitz film (the Robert De Niro starring Being Flynn), so it’s nice to have a hug from a friendly bearded bloke in a beanie delivering his brand of local cinematically-scaled busking when we need it most.

Exasperatedly polite protest songs and observations delivered from a stage dressed in Beck’s hand-me-down festoonery are in bountiful supply here. This is most colourfully played out in the title track and the truly frustrated Is This A Dream?, in which the usual political targets and shallow nature of a social media addicted population receive justifiable scorn. But Gough manages to not sound like another whinging pom, infusing Banana Skin Shoes with plenty of wry wit and pop sparkle that sounds like The Beatles jamming via Zoom during iso.

The loving Tony Wilson Said delights in the sometimes brilliantly flawed mythology of the Factory Records supremo, and I Just Wanna Wish You Happiness is a masterclass in how to get over an ex with dignity. Gough’s ninth rarely slips up.