Have You Fed the Fish?

The glossy production on Badly Drawn Boy's Have You Fed the Fish? adds a brassy sheen to even the most seemingly heartfelt songs, such as "You Were Right," which features the line "I'm turning Madonna down/And I'm calling it my best move." Actually, this lyric encapsulates many of Have You Fed the Fish?'s characteristics at once — it's trying to be quirky and yet mainstream at the same time, it's initially cute and yet a little too clever-clever. Songs like the jangly, off-kilter funk of "Using Our Feet," the title track, and "40 Days, 40 Fights" are similar. Not coincidentally, the shorter songs and vignettes that dot Have You Fed the Fish? reveal more of Badly Drawn Boy's strengths — the delicate, acoustic "I Was Wrong," the lush instrumental "Centerpeace," and the sweet, Lennon-y love song "Instrumental Lines" recall the dazzling, kaleidoscopic beauty of The Hour of Bewilderbeast. Yet for every misstep there are successes like the witty funk-pop of "The Further I Slide" and "All Possibilities," which blends disco strings and mariachi horns into a bittersweet yet uplifting gem. "What Is It Now?" is a quintessential Badly Drawn Boy single, while "How" is a searching ballad that features the motion, emotion, and surprises that define Damon Gough's best work, and recalls the self-reflexive style of singer/songwriters like Don McLean and Elton John to boot.