Singer, songwriter Damon Gough and the British band Badly Drawn Boy blessed us with so much promise at the beginning of this millennium. They gave us 18 masterful songs on The Hour of Bewilderbeast, weaving horns, strings and percussion with effortless grace, and Gough’s soft vocals colored the canvas. The gracefulness even landed the soundtrack to the Hugh Grant flick About a Boy. That was the peak. Badly Drawn Boy set the bar high, but with each successive attempt, the group keeps knocking it down. Its first major effort and fifth full-length, Born in the U.K. is disappointing. Nothing matches the charisma of the band’s previous efforts, and Boy has even taken a step backward. The harmonic pairing of trumpet and piano on “Long Way Round” has redeeming qualities, the acoustic version of the title track is beautiful, and “Walk You Home” has a catchy chorus, but like the latter title, this is mostly pedestrian.
