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"Without a new album to promote, Damon Gough, a.k.a. Badly Drawn\nBoy, is making the rounds in the U.S. without the obligatory\nconstraints that come with touring, like set lists that tilt toward\nthe most recent album and an itinerary that bounces from one major\nmarket to the next.\n&amp;quot;I wanted this tour to be more relaxed,&amp;quot; Gough says. &amp;quot;It&amp;apos;s kind\nof just coming back to say hello because it&amp;apos;s been a year since I\nplayed out here. I&amp;apos;m playing a lot of places I&amp;apos;ve never played\nbefore, which is quite nice: Albany, Brooklyn, Rochester.&amp;quot;\nAnd while he isn&amp;apos;t plugging a release, Gough is using the\nopportunity to road-test some material that will appear on his\nfourth album, due in the spring. Gough has been working on the\nalbum on and off since the release of Have You Fed the\nFish? last year. After working with producer Tom Rothrock\n(Beck, Elliott Smith) on his first three records, Gough chose to\nhunker down for the fourth with his friend and partner in the\nTwisted Nerve label Andy Votel. They are recording in Manchester,\nEngland, this time, not Los Angeles.\n&amp;quot;The time just felt right to stay near home,&amp;quot; Gough says. &amp;quot;I\njust woke up one morning and thought we needed a break. Not that we\nweren&amp;apos;t getting on. Just that we had made three in a row, and I can\nalways make a record with Tom. It fascinates me, how the choice of\nlocation has an effect on the ultimate sound of the record. If I\nhad worked in Los Angeles again, I would&amp;apos;ve made a different\nrecord. And it may have been the best record ever, but I think this\none is probably my best record yet, as long as I get the order\nright.&amp;quot;\nMore than half of the record is mixed, and Gough and Votel are\nnow in the process of finding that right order. The tour might also\nhave some influence on the album&amp;apos;s final song selection. Initially\nplanned as a solo acoustic jaunt, Gough ended up bringing the\nalbum&amp;apos;s bassist and drummer along, though they only make sporadic\nappearances on stage. &amp;quot;I wanted them for company as much as\nanything,&amp;quot; he says, &amp;quot;and then just have some fun and play the\nmusic. I do most of the show solo, but then I&amp;apos;m bringing the guys\non when we feel like playing one of the new songs. It&amp;apos;s a strange\nthing, some songs are really exciting immediately, others are a\nbattle to get right. But it&amp;apos;s exciting to be airing them on the\nroad, when they&amp;apos;re not even out of the studio yet.&amp;quot;\nAmong the new cuts being considered for the new album is\n&amp;quot;Another Devil&amp;apos;s Eyes,&amp;quot; which -- like other Badly Drawn Boy songs\n(&amp;quot;Something to Talk About,&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Magic in the Air&amp;quot;) -- features a bit\nof Bacharachian melodic influence. &amp;quot;It started out wanting to sound\nlike mariachi trumpets,&amp;quot; he says. &amp;quot;But I didn&amp;apos;t like it in that\nworld, so I re-dressed it and played it on piano. I like a bit of\ncheese, and Burt&amp;apos;s not afraid to be a little gratuitous with\nmelody. That&amp;apos;s kind of where I live in my head with music -- I&amp;apos;m a\nsucker for melody.&amp;quot;\nAnd while Gough describes that song as one of the more elaborate\nones, he thinks the overall album will be a bit quieter than his\nprevious efforts. &amp;quot;I really wanted this album to be the most\nminimal I&amp;apos;ve made,&amp;quot; he says. &amp;quot;It&amp;apos;s still got my hallmarks, but it&amp;apos;s\ndefinitely not as grand as Fish. I feel different, I feel\nmore mature, and I think it sounds like a more mature record.&amp;quot;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/new-step-for-badly-drawn-boy-20031225>