David Gray: Draw The Line

David Gray was previously known as classic Radio 2 fodder, a harmless singer-songwriter with vaguely catchy melodies and a nice line in occasionally memorable lyrical couplets. He is of course best known for a song about a sci-fi series, and enjoyed his best period of success a good few years ago. He is now in his 40s and wears only beige clothes.

But what’s this? Draw The Line is David Gray 2.0 – all grooving psychedelic funk and acid house jam sessions, Radiohead-like repeated drum loops and yelped vocals, creating a feeling of utter ecstasy as he pushes the boundaries of music to the extreme, with one of the finest records ever made.

Did I have you going for a while there? Surprise surprise, it sounds the same as every David Gray record. Sweeping strings complement carefully plucked guitar and plodding piano and Gray’s monotonous, tuneless, meaningless warbling. It’s such a lack of progression I was halfway through his previous album before I even realised Draw The Line had finished.

If you listen to this by choice, you should have your ears taken away. You don’t deserve them.

This review was written for TMM.