Badly Drawn Boy drops badly done album

Badly Drawn Boy’s newest release, “It’s What I’m Thinking Part 1: Photographing the Snowflakes,” is infrequently exciting.

Interesting orchestration rouses the listener from Damon Gough’s sleep-inducing, slow storytelling — but not often enough.

Paired together, the instrumentation and melodies sound similar to Beck’s “Sea Change,” but “What I’m Thinking” is much more depressing in a straightforward way.

Songs such as “This Electric” and “Too Many Miracles,” which are upbeat and injected with occasional electronic drums, stand out when contrasted against the backdrop of sad, sappy diary entries about loneliness, loss and nostalgia while proclaiming feelings such as “for the first time it feels real since the day I saw you walk away.” 

Mercury Prize winner or not, the sentiment is laid on a little too thick for this particular release and is not as charming as the rest of the Badly Drawn Boy discography; it is especially a long way away from the 2000 release “Hour Of Bewilderbeast,” too.