Badly Drawn Boy

今年，一本英國暢銷小說成就了一部英國最受好評的電影，而隨著電影的成功，這部電影的原聲唱片也成了最受歡迎的唱片。整部電影中的音樂就是出自這個來自英國曼徹斯特的，被稱為英國“新民謠運動開創者”的，有著古怪名字的歌手Badly Drawn Boy(涂鴉男孩)之手。他的音樂含蓄、優雅，慵懶、風趣，不失人情味兒。雖然他可能還沒有休??格蘭特那么有名，但樂迷們卻從未懷疑過這位樂壇新寵的才華。 Belying his status as a narcoleptic slacker icon, Badly Drawn Boy proved himself a tireless pop songwriter, with arrangements that reflect a great deal of creativity. Born Damon Gough, he began recording after meeting the like-minded Andy Votel at a Manchester nightclub. The pair formed the Twisted Nerve label, and Gough debuted as Badly Drawn Boy with an EP and several singles. The recordings dovetailed nicely with the experimentalist pop fringe of artists like Scott 4 and the Beta Band, and the attendant media hype allowed him to guest alongside Thom Yorke, Richard Ashcroft, and Mike D on 1997s celebrity-filled UNKLE LP Psyence Fiction. His 1999 single Once Around the Block grazed the British charts, while XL Recordings signed the pop auteur and released his debut album, The Hour of Bewilderbeast, in 2000. Just before its American release, the album earned another round of critical praise with Britains vaunted Mercury Prize for Best Album. December 2000 brought the birth of his daughter. Author Nick Hornby was won over by his music and asked the singer to score the film being made of his book About a Boy. After that project, he moved away from music for a few months to work on new material. After recording during most of 2002, he emerged that fall with Have You Fed the Fish? Two years later, Gough resurfaced with the simpler One Plus One Is One. Born in the U.K., a poppier collection of songs inspired by his childhood and (as the title suggests) Bruce Springsteens Born in the U.S.A., arrived in fall 2006.