A doff of the woolly hat to his beloved Bruce Springsteen's Born In The USA, Damon Gough's fifth album as Badly Drawn Boy, finds him musing on modern life, national heritage, and finding the space to crack wise a little along the way. Gough's approach to the knotty subject of patriotism is not quite as chest-beating as Springsteen's, but in truth it's just as conflicted. Take the title track; it mentions the hosepipe ban, Sid Vicious and the Falklands conflict, yet far from being a straight-up nostalgia tract, still confronts the troublesome contradictions of the British patriot: "We made something out of nothing/A sense of loathing and belonging". Perhaps it's true to say that Born In The UK finds the Badly Drawn one looking behind rather than in front: the country-tinged "The Way Things Used To Be" even strikes a wry note of self-mockery amid the rather traditional songwriting within. But if time has blunted Badly Drawn Boy's impulse to challenge his audience, there's a genuine warmth and optimism to songs like "Welcome to the Overground" that mark Gough out as a rare author who can pull off sentimentality without sounding forced or trite.

Track Listing: 1 Swimming Pool (1:32) 2 Born in the U.K. (2:35) 3 Degrees of Separation (4:17) 4 Welcome to the Overground (3:23) 5 A Journey from a to B (3:44) 6 Nothing's Gonna Change Your Mind (5:20) 7 Promises (5:06) 8 The Way Things Used to Be (4:46) 9 Without a Kiss (5:31) 10 The Long Way Round (Swimming Pool) (4:53) 11 Walk You Home Tonight (3:45) 12 The Time of Times (3:18) 13 One Last Dance (4:51)

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