Pitchfork

At the Independent School for Emotionally Fragile Male Singer/Songwriters (mascot: the Fightin' Beatles) the headmasters award graduates tattered wool ski caps, uneven facial stubble, torn t-shirts and wristbands before nudging them into the real world. The degree doesn't get them very far, though, so the alumni typically find positions as dishwashers or heroin junkies. The pay is shit, but it's all songwriting fuel.

The whimpering Elliott Smith exploded as the school's first success. With that grizzled face and old hat, Elliott quickly wore himself thin, sounding dangerously close to Aimee Mann, a recent graduate of Smith's rival public school, Solo Careers for Failed Leadsingers State. Smith's dried leaves became plastic houseplants as his once delicate acoustic numbers bloated into George Harrison knock-offs with the maudlin emotional subtlety of a Bone Thugs 'N' Harmony video. Meanwhile, gifted foreign exchange student Badly Drawn Boy's Damon Gough was bored doodling in ISEFMS classes and huffing whiteout in his shed with R.E.M's "Hairshirt" blaring on repeat. Now, as Elliott Smith slips dangerously close to Bryan Adams' "(I Wanna Be) Your Underwear" territory, Gough hits the real world with his debut full-length, The Hour of Bewilderbeast.

The loose, scatterbrain album operates much like the early solo endeavors of Paul McCartney, with 80% developed gems flowing effortlessly from the damp, rustic English countryside. Yet, (fortunately?) Gough still seeks his Linda. "It's killing me/ I'm dying," he sighs over Sunday morning horns, cleverly pausing before finishing: "To put a little sunshine in your life." In less modest mouths and over colder sounds, the song could only fail. Here, it fires up the enzymes before the shimmering guitar of "Everybody Stalking" suddenly echoes with verve. Just as quickly, the number dissolves into the multitracked organs of "Bewilder."

Inconceivably, the British press heralded Badly Drawn Boy as the next Beck and Beta Band, due mostly to his lazy, absurd live performances. Clever rouse, for Gough pulled his act together brilliantly at Glastonbury 2000, securing the coveted Mercury Prize in the same critics' hearts moments before The Hour of Bewilderbeast even hit streets. After the hype, the result sounds baffling; there's not a pinch of irony to be found in the shifting, meticulous mix.

"Stone on the Water" pummels Belle & Sebastian in the race to approximate Nick Drake's brilliance with jazz drum brushings and spider-fingered acoustic fluttering. But, not content to merely skip stones on a Scottish pond, Gough stomps harder on "Once Around the Block," which similarly surpasses Elliott Smith in the crown for reaching George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord."

Piano, strings, harps, and Wurlitzer attach insect wings to the lovely songs. They'll swarm and pester your head for days. With this concise tour through the gentler side of British songwriting history-- from understated psychedelia to sylvan protest folk-- Badly Drawn Boy proves what shallow saps American liberal arts majors can be behind a guitar. At 18 songs, just over an hour, Bewilderbeast initially overwhelms, but the fictitious creature seems like the perfect mascot for England's new school.