It Came From The Ground EP

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Until recently Damon Gough was working at his dad's printers in Manchester and belting out songs in his so-called 'spare time'. Next thing you know, his Badly Drawn Boy persona was declared "the British Beck" by various media-types (unfair to both Beck and Gough really) and became the focus of an unseemly A&R scramble for his signature. After a few ltd-edn EPs and a (misguided?) appearance on the Unkle LP, he ended up at XL with some kind of deal for the promising Twisted Nerve label he's started with cohort Andy Votel. Thankfully there's no sign of dilution or compromise, and there's Twisted Nerve's familiar devotion to vinyl (particularly 7" and 10") and fresh artwork (by another old friend Rick Myers). As Gough is essentially a skewed-pop singer-songwriter, his work has something in common with Babybird, Nick Drake, Elliot Smith, etc. Yet his lo-fi analogue recordings have echoes of early Eno and, yes, Beck too. Perhaps his hip-hop mates throw a few angles into his recording too. Despite these reference points, his music is so personal that it has a unique charm. The melodies are attractively simple and the warmth of the acoustics dampens the intense intimacy, producing earthy, engaging music. As well as Gough's nicely cheap-sounding guitars and keyboards, the drums are beautifully recorded throughout, particularly the gated break in "It Came From The Ground". This first track is almost symphonic, perhaps the most expansive sounds Gough's worked with. "Outside Is A Light" is simply lovely, meandering along on a lazy shuffle laid on a bed of fuzzy organ, with Dylanesque harmonica ushering in Gough and Janine Roston's charming duet. The other tracks are all called Walkman demo's, almost ambient in their pursuit of lo-fidelity, the last one with a soul edge to it, bizarrely reminding me of my favourite Stones track off Exile On Main Street, the recorded-in-a-corridor, intensely soulful "Just Wanna See His Face". As Votel and Gough's Twisted Nerve label begins to take off, it's good to see Damon's keeping his nerve too.