This came out in 2002 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Who better than Badly Drawn Boy to provide the score and soundtrack for the film About A Boy? And not just because of the similarity in their names.
Artistically, this is also a match made in movie heaven. Like About A Boy scribe Nick Hornby — who also penned High Fidelity — singer-songwriter Damon Gough writes thoughtful and whip-smart (if endearingly skewed) tales of fractured pop romance. And like Hornby’s efforts, Gough’s work plays in America. Here, he goes Hollywood in a big way, recording with Beck producer Tom Rothrock and soaking up the California studio-pop vibe of Brian Wilson, Harry Nilsson and Randy Newman. Roughly divided between short instrumental cues and longer vocal tracks like Peak You Reach, Silent Sigh and Above You, Below Me, these 16 cuts bounce with gentle grace to spry head-nodding rhythms, vibrant acoustic guitars and pleasant piano lines, all elegantly bolstered by Gough’s eccentric orch-pop arrangements. All in all, they make About A Boy as charming and personal as a hand-drawn Valentine.
