It's What I'm Thinking, Pt. 1: Photographing Snowflakes (Deluxe Edition)

iTunes Review

Damon Gough, a.k.a. Badly Drawn Boy, hit writer’s block after 2006’s Born In the U.K., but four years later he sounds completely refreshed. This 2010 release recalls the warm intimacy of Gough’s earliest works, leaning on acoustic arrangements to make the complex statements. “In Safe Hands” features recessive vocals that swim in reverb like the early Cure. “The Order of Things” dwells in a forlorn corner where Gough sounds like a British Glen Campbell staring into Galveston Bay. “Too Many Miracles” expands the arrangements to sound like a mild carnival of sorts. “I Saw You Walk Away” and “This Beautiful Idea” kick up Gough’s version of isolationist pop. “What Tomorrow Brings” works as melancholy folk. “You Lied” has an imagistic ‘60s pop swirl reminiscent of the Clientele. “A Pure Accident” casts an abstract somber timbre. Gough is at his best when he settles into modest surroundings, letting his vocals drift along without effort. He always made for a brilliant slacker. The nearly twenty-minute bonus cut-title track included with the Deluxe Edition is a conversation piece of laid-back psychedelic interplay.