It's What I'm Thinking, Pt. 1: Photographing Snowflakes
by Badly Drawn Boy
  • Record Label: The End
  • Release Date: Oct 12, 2010
Metascore
69

Generally favorable reviews - based on 17 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 17
  3. Negative: 0 out of 17
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  1. Uncut
    60
    Pitched as the first part of a trilogy, this is a batch of effortlessly lovely tunes, warmly intimate and muzzy with reverb. [Nov 2010, p.81]
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  2. Q Magazine
    60
    Too Many Miracles, I Saw You Walk Away and This Electric come lovingly swaddled in strings and, if only for their duration, make the world a nicer place. [Nov 2010, p.105]
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  3. Spin
    Dec 21, 2010
    50
    His return to more intimate recording can't conceal that there's nary a melody worth savoring amid the autumnal folkiness.
  5. Under The Radar
    Oct 26, 2010
    50
    Less than the sum of its parts, here's hoping that whatever Gough is thinking for part two includes hiring an editor to help him provide form to all this meaning. [Fall 2010, p.58]
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  6. BBC Music
    50
    Sadly, much of the rest conforms to a malaise that's afflicted him since 2002's Have You Fed the Fish?: repetitive tracks consisting of one looping half-melody that outstays its welcome by several months.
  7. musicOMH.com
    50
    Unshowy, slowly revealing its pleasures, this is subtle, and clever, but rather too downplayed for its own good.
  8. PopMatters
    50
    Although there are still individual songs here and there that are over-the-top, this album sounds more like the Badly Drawn Boy of old. But since the songs aren't up to the high standards he set for himself a decade ago, It's What I'm Thinking is more like Gough doing a mediocre imitation of early Badly Drawn Boy than recapturing what once made him great.

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User Score
7.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 5 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 5
  3. Negative: 0 out of 5
  1. Ricko
    Apr 28, 2018
    8
    I had followed BDB'd career earnestly from his early EP's through to 2004's "One Plus One is One". For some reason I lost track of DamonI had followed BDB'd career earnestly from his early EP's through to 2004's "One Plus One is One". For some reason I lost track of Damon Gough's releases at this point. Then, in the Winter of 2017 he played a gig in my hometown in an old abandoned church. The gig was superb and had a mix of material that I knew and loved as well as stuff I had never heard. Amongst the newer material was one incredible track "In Safe Hands". In the following weeks I checked out some of the post 2004 releases and found the track that impressed me so much on "It's What I'm Thinking (Part One: Photographing Snowflakes)". The album is worth checking out for "In Safe Hands" alone, a song written from the point of view of his former brother in law whose relationship with Gough's sister was coming to an end. This gem is followed by two more vintage BDB songs, "The Order of Things" and "Too Many Miracles". These opening 3 songs wouldn't be out of place and would hold their own on his lauded debut "The Hour of Bewilderbeast". The rest of the album in more in the league of "Have You Fed The Fish" in that it's nice and melodic without the songwriting sorcery Gough is capable of at his best. Overall, a strong album with a handful of peaks. Fans of his early stuff who like me might have lost track will enjoy it.… Full Review »
  2. lastchance
    Oct 18, 2010
    4
    Not my favorite or least favorite Badly Drawn Boy album. My biggest problem with this album is more on the production side of things. MostNot my favorite or least favorite Badly Drawn Boy album. My biggest problem with this album is more on the production side of things. Most of the songs are very echo-y and unclear. The songs all sound like they were taped in an unfinished basement or as if they are all poor quality mp3 versions of actually songs. The song writing is there though.… Full Review »
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