ARTS-

The Michigan Daily - Monday, May 13, 2002 - 9

'About' songs not
at all Badly Drawn
By Scott Serilla Fidelity" author and obvious
Daily Arts Writer record junkie Nick Hornby.
While the small romantic come- talents (he plays upwards of
Although not as widely heard dy will have to fight hard to eight instruments) and full lush
on this side of the Atlantic, avoid being swallowed whole by string work courtesy of the Lon-
Badly Drawn Boy's beautiful the overabundance of mega- don Metropolitan Orchestra,
debut, The Hour blockbusters this Gough doesn't forget his roots as
of Bewilderbeast summer, if the a lo-fi bedroom songwriter, even
was one of the soundtrack is any in this decidedly hi-fi setting.
best records of ** * indication the pic- Those roots shine through on the
2000, winning ture deserves a stripped down and stellar gui-
Britain's presti- ABOUT A BOY chance. tar/harmonica number "A Minor
gious Mercury SOUNDTRACK Co-produced by Incident" and the synth-drum
Prize (like a Tom Rothrock loops on the album's later cuts,
Grammy, only not Badly Drawn Boy (Beck, Elliott particularly the electronica
as meaningless) Smith) and remi- instrumental "S.P.A.T.", suggest-
for Album of the Artist Direct/BMG niscent of ex-Devo ing a more desperate/captivating
Year. Known for mastermind Mark David Gray.
his trademark knit cap and his Mothersbaugh's quirky inciden- The result is a wonderful
eccentric solo stage show where tal music for director Wes stand-alone album of great
he usually passes snapshots of Anderson's pictures, the sound- music that proves pop doesn't
his baby daughter around the track buzzes with a surprisingly have to be a dirty word. Com-
audience, the one-man band elegant energy that veils a deep pelling and novel enough to war-
from Manchester (aka Damon layer of melancholy bittersweet- rant the attention of serious
Gough) is a pop auteur of rare ness embed in the thoughtful music fans, but still accessible
and unique talent, whose song- lyrics. In that it recalls the classic for the mass audience of a GAP
writing blends exquisitely struc- orchestrated feel of Imperial commercial or a wide-release
tured pop with strains of Bedroom-era Elvis Costello, the major studio release like this,
heartfelt folk and soul. songs draw strength from the Badly Drawn Boy's music ironi-
As the unofficial follow-up to blending of polished pop sheen cally shows nothing but defini-
Bewilderbeast (a proper LP of with witty emotional wordplay tion and maturity that few
new songs is promised later this (longtime Attraction's drummer songwriters of his generation
year), Gough turns a very Pete Thomas guests on "A Peak have displayed thus far.
impressive soundtrack for the You Reach").
new Hugh Grant movie, About a Yet for all his studio savvy,
Boy, based on the book by "High remarkable multi-instrumental

Promise Ring's makeover

By Scott Serilla
Daily Arts Writer
On Wood/Water, frontman Davey von
Bohlen sings "I've been the next big thing
since I can remember," about the unfilled
hype plaguing his band for the past few
years. Big time glossies like Rolling Stone
and SPIN predicted major crossover success
for these forward thinking emo
kids long ago, but thus far the
mainstream has remained large-
ly indifferent to the band's **
labors.
And just as younger bandsj WOOD/
such as Jimmy Eat World and The Prom
Dashboard Confessional have
begun seeing bankable returns, Anti R
genre pioneers TPR have appar-
ently jumped off the emo gravy
train, avoiding the seemingly easy payoff by
simply ripping off one their earlier albums'
sound. On Wood/Water, the Milwaukee-based
band makes a major departure from the
dynamic pop-punk of their previous efforts in
favor of a new, more sophisticated and ambi-
tious direction with very mixed results.
Recorded entirely in the UK with
renowned Britpop producer Stephen Street
(the Smiths, Blur), Wood/Water finds TPR
searching for middle ground between the
post-Bends vibe of Travis and Coldplay with
more traditional American indie pop. Instead
of just singing about the possibility of grow-
ing up like their peers, the Promise Ring
actually tone down the adolescence angst and
give maturity a try. It's the new sincerity car-

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n:
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ried out to its logical end.
Still, it's a new band and it is not. Although
frantic riffs and the general roar of the
Promise Ring of old have given way to
atmospheric guitar effects and sweet har-
monies, von Bohlen's distinct straining tenor
is still in the center of it all, as are the band's
primary thematic preoccupations (girls, love,
struggling with getting older and figuring out
what the hell to do with your
life).
Its just too bad Wood/Water
* isn't quite the perfect pop record
that you feel the Promise Ring
WATER really wanted to make. The sec-
ise Ring ond half of the album begins to
drag, drowning in its excessive
ecords mellowness. As much as you
want to like the new approach,
you can't but help missing the
raw bite of their debut 30°Everywhere or the
catchy blast of '99s Very Emergency. Perhaps
the band is a little too consumed with the
sonic retooling, as von Bohlen's lyrics aren't
nearly as sharp as they were on '97s sadly
beautiful Nothing Feels Good.
Yet Wood/Water is a brave effort and it's
refreshing to see a band trying something
new not for commercial reasons or to please
a cult following, but only because they want
to challenge themselves. As von Bohlen
humble says on the record's upbeat opener
"Yeah I've been around before/ this time I
don't know what's in store." Neither do we,
but it might be worth going along for the ride
when the band plays the Majestic in Detroit
May 18th to find out.