Badly Drawn Boy - The Hour Of The Bewilderbeast
This was one of the first records I ever bought. One of the first artists that I came across that made me realise (and this is when I was really young when I had no dreams, no hope of making music) that you could have a record that could have so many different elements in it and it can work as a piece. I think it was just made by him and maybe a couple of other people. The lyrics are amazing and he has such an ear for melody. For me it had a lot of pop elements even though it wasn’t a glossy pop record. It’s really, really, rhythmic in the lyrics, the melodies and the compositions. I loved that it was a folk record but at the same time it was indie, it was experimental in ways. Even the little skits that went on in it where it jumped from genres and there was a lot of field recording stuff, and that was the first time I came across stuff like that. I didn’t even know what it was but it was fascinating at the time. Even though I didn’t understand it, it blew me away.

I hear it now and it brings back so many memories. I love music that I can connect memories to. I’m really fond of that record. That record is the record that I’ve been trying to make my whole life. Every time I sit down and think about making a record I’m thinking of this one. But it never quite works out. It turns into nonsense.