Banana Skin Shoes

AlbumMay 22 / 202014 songs, 50m 48s
Indie Pop
Noteable

On the title track that opens Badly Drawn Boy’s ninth studio album (and first in eight years), Damon Gough is getting back up and he’s ready to move on. “It’s time to break free from this plaster cast/And leave your past behind,” the English singer-songwriter rejoices over horn-filled funk, returning to the genre-bending experiments of 2000’s Mercury Prize-winning *The Hour of Bewilderbeast* and 2002’s *Have You Fed the Fish*. Gough, who went through an extended bout of soul-searching during his absence, exudes marital bliss on \"I Need Someone to Trust\" and \"Fly on the Wall,\" taking a more pop-minded bent even as his penchant for chamber music remains present. The loose-limbed “Is This a Dream?” and “Colours” carry a celebratory tone, where he acknowledges his past mistakes as he recollects his thoughts. Even the more subdued moments, like the bossa-nova-tinged “You and Me Against the World,” play with a slow rhythmic groove as Gough opens his heart: “I feel so vulnerable/I want to be/Only in love.”

40

"It's time to break this plaster cast and leave your past behind," Badly Drawn Boy's Damon Gough sings on Banana Skin Shoes.

7 / 10

Badly Drawn Boy — the moniker of England's oddball songsmith Damon Gough — is celebrating his 50th year in a special way: releasing Banana S...

8 / 10

It's been a full decade since English indie rock/folk songsmith Damon Michael Gough—i.

There was a moment when Manchester quartet The 1975 looked like the band of the future… before they went and made the same mistake as so many great bands from the past.

No slip-ups as Damon Gough returns with his strongest release in nearly two decades, review by Barney Harsent

7 / 10