Once upon a time, I thought Badly Drawn Boy would become one of my very favorite artists. The band (which is actually just one guy, Damon Gough) put out a beautiful meandering album in 2000 called The Hour of Bewilderbeast. It’s not quite like any other album I’ve heard, full of sonic detours and recurring themes, alternately delicate and hard-driving.

He followed that album in 2002 with the soundtrack to About a Boy, which contained a few memorable songs, and in the same year Have You Fed the Fish?, an album similar in style to his debut if not quite up to its level. A strong start, to be certain.

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