Badly Drawn Boy - Nothing's Gonna Change Your Mind

by Emma Dawson

published: 10 / 11 / 2006

Badly Drawn Boy - Nothing's Gonna Change Your Mind

Label: EMI
Format: CDS

Uninvolving latest single from Badly Drawn Boy

Review

My English/Creative Writing teacher had a bugbear with one word in the English language, an irritation I’ve carried with me to this day. The word is ‘nice’. Nice. Hmmm, you know, it’s the word you use when you haven’t a strong view either way to explain that something is reasonably appealing. That’s been my principal problem with Badly Drawn Boy over the years. He’s never managed to truly stir me consistently. He’s as likely to annoy me as beguile me. It’s usually okay, with the odd moment of greatness thrown in such as 'You Were Right'. 'Nothing’s Gonna Change Your Mind' does little to suggest that this relationship is going to change. It is, essentially, pure Badly Drawn Boy. From the obtuse, philosophical lyrics that elicit universal meaning through a kind of musical osmosis, through to the entirely conventional use of tried and tested arrangements culminating in the melodic meathook of a chorus, it’s all here. All the reasons why you can at the same time love him and so easily dismiss him. And why, when I’m asked on my opinion of Damon’s work, I end up saying something like ‘nice’. It’s MOR, the housewife’s choice, but yet it still manages to show flashes of a greater depth if it’s held up at the correct angle to the critical light.