Badly Drawn Boy - One Plus One Is One CDs • Vinyl Records • LPs • Music Albums

Upside Down," "Logic of a Friend" and the tear-jerking "Year of the Rat," Gough writes to the sound of his own conversational murmuring and fills in the blank spots with rumbling timpani, keyboards and a children's choir. Though it's a mid-summer release, One Plus One Is One is cold-weather music -- it's slow, beautiful and ponderously sincere, and sometimes Gough's soft and subtle tunes get lost in their hoodies. But even when Gough rocks out a bit, One Plus One Is One comes on like a welcome memory, suddenly making you smile to yourself after a handful of listens. Badly drawn? Maybe. But finely wrought for sure.

A folk-pop take on John's tart sense of melody and Paul's sense of sonic adventure that somehow evokes Nick Drake, Elliott Smith and the Lilac Time even more than the Beatles. Sharp pop hooks, tuneful melancholy and cheeky humor alternate with ingratiating blasts of joy. Damon Gough's finest album yet.