About a Boy: Original Soundtrack [VINYL]

Raw materials remain loose, circling, faintly jazzy strums and broken-backed pianos, topped with those airy vocals that err just on the right side of distracted. But Damon Gough's gift is to conjure up an air of innocence, however disingenuous that may be, and make his way with a melody seem uncommonly fresh. So "Above You, Below Me" transcends its rickety, waltzing similarity to "Once Around The Block", while the outstanding "Something To Talk About" is like "Pissing In The Wind" reshaped by Elliott Smith (no coincidence that Smith cohort Tom Rothrock coproduces here). There's even a lovely Christmas song, "Donna & Blitzen", to round things off. The old quibbles about musicians tossing away good songs on soon-forgotten soundtracks seem irrelevant. Best treat About A Boy as a proper album--Damon Gough certainly did. --John Mulvey