‘Badly Drawn Boy’ Articles at Rock Torch

Serge Bielanko and Badly Drawn Boy

Serge Bielanko’s recommendation: “I’d say that Badly Drawn Boy and his record The Hour of Bewilderbeast move me more these days than much of anything else. I really can’t put my finger on it exactly, which is how it usually goes with the best stuff. It’s a combination of things, I think. The songs are beautiful and eloquent without even trying. And the music is this hodgepodge flea market of folk and pop, with magnificent clever beats and melodies. I can’t say enough about it really. There are a lot of songs on the record, something like 17 or 18, and that usually is a bad sign. Not here though. There isn’t any filler at all. None. Everything sort of flows together, songs ooze into other songs. I think it there might be magic spells hidden back behind the chords. Whenever I put it on, usually in the car, I see deer and rabbits and shit. Wild things come out of the forest. That doesn’t happen with most records, you know. I never had it happen when I played any other albums, so I quit listening to most of them.

I have never really admitted this to myself before, but I’m gonna do it here. Why not. I love this record maybe more than any record I have ever listened to. No lie. I find the whole damn thing inspiring and hopeful and pumped full of some kind of love that isn’t easy or free, but is worth it in the end. It isn’t a record to share with your friends while you sit around the kitchen table drinking beers and bullshitting. It’s more like a hundred dollar bill. You keep that shit in your wallet, it makes you happy/gives you a little peace of mind in a mad world. You don’t go flashing it around.

Does that make sense?

No?

Ok. Try this.

Badly Drawn Boy’s Hour of the Bewilderbeast is basically the soundtrack to meeting an old elf in a country pub and getting drunk with him out in the beer-garden, in the warm and pouring rain.”

About our guest author, Serge Bielanko: The last we heard from Serge musically was in 2008 where he belted out stirring vocals (check Wilderness below) on Marah’s masterwork, Angels of Destruction!. He then moved out to Utah, became a Dad and showed us another side of his greatness through the incredibly well written dad-blog, Thunder Pie. (We here at Rocktorch.com also return to Serge’s great tribute to Bruce Springsteen’s right hand man, Terry Magovern (scroll down for Serge’s piece) every so often, just to remind ourselves that dreams really do freakin’ come true!). But now, Serge is back in the band, joining brother Dave and Christine Smith to set the music world straight and, to put it plainly, we can’t fuckin’ wait. Spy the rehearsal video below and catch one of the US shows in VA and PA before they go off and conquer Spain. Serge, welcome back!

MP3: Wilderness