as i was driving home today, i had this post completely planned out. i was going to talk about a swedish gal and her sultry soulful sounds. then i heard “a journey from a to b” by badly drawn boy on the radio, which reminded me of one of my former favorite songs that i completely forgot about. then i remembered seeing him (born damon gough) live at the majestic a few years back. his new album had just been released in the few months before, and the material was so new that he had lyric sheets all around him when playing most of the new songs. on one song, he even commented that the piano melody he was playing was complicated enough that he couldnt sing the words and play the song at the same time. and the best part was, he had no qualms about it.

this song, arguably his most famous (except maybe “silent sigh”), instantly became one of my favorites. im pretty sure it was the first song of his that id heard, or that i remember hearing at least. the opening wah wah guitar pedal grabs your attention and the remainder of the song makes sure not to lose it. shortly after, the clean guitar comes in and sets up the main melody, which ive only been able to describe as european sounding (french perhaps?). this guitar melody is later mimicked with a vocal scat jam full of beedops and boo-ops and badabada-dahs. while this song is certainly the catchiest of the bunch, you would be doing yourself a disservice not to check out some more of his catalogue. warning: may listen to track more than once.

badly drawn boy – once around the block

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